Rescue workers help a survivor of a sunken Panama ship after he was rescued off the port of Tripoli in northern Lebanon, December 17, 2009. Dozens of people were missing on Thursday after a ship carrying livestock sank in the Mediterranean off Lebanon in stormy weather, Lebanese naval sources said.(Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIRUT, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese navy said on Friday it has rescued 38 people and found four bodies off the coast of north Lebanon, after a cargo ship with 83 people on board sank in the Mediterranean on Thursday night.

    The Panamanian-flagged freighter, Danny FII, carrying livestock from Uruguay to Tartous, Syria, capsized about 17 km off the coast of northwest Lebanese city of Tripoli amid heavy rainstorm, the navy was quoted by the official National News Agency as saying.

    One of the rescued said the British captain has died, local NowLebanon news website reported.

    Local newspaper Daily Star quoted a port official in Tripoli assaying that many of the ship's crew members were from the Philippines and Pakistan.

    Lebanese navy and UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) maritime task force are still searching for survivors.

    However, rescue efforts were hampered by heavy rain and thunderstorms that lashed Lebanon on Thursday and Friday. Many roads in the country were blocked due to flooding triggered by the heavy rainfall.

    The freighter is the second ship that sank off Lebanese coastal waters in a week. A Togolese-flagged freighter capsized around 70 km off the coast of Lebanon's south city of Tyre on Dec. 11.

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A ship with 82 passengers on board sinks near north Lebanon coast

    BEIRUT, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- A commercial ship with 82 passengers on board sank on Thursday night near north Lebanon city Tripoli, only four persons have been rescued till now, Lebanese official National News Agency reported.

    According to the report, the ship, raising the Panamanian flag, was transporting cattle and headed towards the Syrian port of Tartus. It sank 11 miles away from Tripoli's port.  Full story