A South Korean cargo vessel is missing after making its last contact in the South Atlantic about 2,500 kilometres (1,500 miles) from shore and 22 crew members are unaccounted for, South Korea's foreign ministry and news reports said on Sunday. South Korea's foreign ministry said on Sunday that two Filipino crew members were rescued floating in a life raft on Saturday, but other lifeboats and rafts found in the area were empty, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported. The ship went out of contact late Friday, South Korea time, shortly after one of the crew members sent a text message to the shipping company saying the ship was taking on water, according to an official from Seoul’s Foreign Ministry. "A search operation is continuing for the 22 people," a South Korean foreign ministry official in Seoul said by telephone, adding eight of the missing are South Korean nationals and 14 are Filipinos. The very large ore carrier (VLOC) Stellar Daisy owned and operated by South Korea's Polaris Shipping based in Busan was sailing from Brazil to China carrying iron ore when it sent a distress signal to the ship operator on Friday, Yonhap said.
Authorities cannot contact the South Korean cargo freighter Stellar Daisy. It is believed that the ship sunk off the coast of Uruguay.