JUST IN: Ship with nine crew sinks off Taiwan as typhoon hits

Rescue officials in Taiwan are searching for a cargo ship with nine crew members that has sunk off its southern coast.

The Tanzania-flagged freighter had been off the southern port city of Kaohsiung when Taiwan was struck by Typhoon Gaemi.

The storm has also brought relentless rain to the Philippines, where a tanker carrying close to 1.5 million litres of industrial fuel has capsized.

Sixteen crew members of the Philippine-flagged MT Terra Nova have been rescued while one remains missing, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said.

Typhoon Gaemi, which made landfall on Taiwan’s east coast on Wednesday, has killed three people and injured hundreds more on the island, officials said.

Before hitting Taiwan, Gaemi exacerbated rainy conditions in the Philippines, where eight people have died. It is expected to make a second landfall in mainland China after passing through Taiwan.

Taiwan’s Coastguard Administration said Fu Shun, the freighter that capsized off its coast, had nine Myanmar nationals on board.

They added that three other foreign vessels had run aground during the typhoon, but were safe.

In the Philippines, the tanker that had capsized in Manila Bay, was heading for the central city of Iloilo when it sank. It left an oil spill stretching several kilometres, authorities said.

Officials added that strong winds and high waves were hampering their response.

The MT Terra Nova “capsized and eventually submerged,” the Philippines coast guard said in a report, adding they were investigating whether bad weather was a factor.

In Taiwan, the storm has forced officials to cancel parts of the island’s largest annual military drills, along with almost all domestic flights and more than 200 international flights.

The island’s Central Weather Administration had also issued a land warning for all of Taiwan.

One of the three people killed in Taiwan was a motorist who was hit by a falling tree, authorities said. Another was crushed by an excavator when it overturned.

More than 8,000 people across the island have been temporarily relocated by local authorities, reports said.

Gaemi made landfall in Taiwan around midnight on Wednesday (16:00 GMT), on the northeastern coast close to Yilan county.

On Wednesday, the government declared a typhoon day, suspending work and classes across the island except for the Kinmen islands.

On Thursday, schools and offices remained closed, while flights to and from Taiwan have also been cancelled. In the capital Taipei, shelves in supermarkets were left bare as people stocked up ahead of expected price increases after the typhoon passes.

The typhoon was originally expected to hit further north, but the mountains of northern Taiwan steered it slightly south towards the city of Hualien.

The typhoon is expected to weaken as it tracks over the mountainous terrain of Taiwan before re-emerging in the Taiwan Strait towards China.

A second landfall is expected in the Fujian province in southeastern China later on Thursday. Several rail operators in China have also suspended operations.

Metro Manila, home to nearly 15 million people, was placed under a state of calamity as rivers and creeks overflowed.

Footage circulating on social media showed small cars floating in chest-deep waters and commuters trapped on the roofs of sunken buses.

The state weather bureau said the rains, which are typical at this time of the year, could persist until later on Thursday.