Typhoon Gaemi Heads for China as Cargo Ship Sinks Off Taiwan

Typhoon Gaemi was churning toward mainland China on Thursday afternoon as rescue personnel searched for nine sailors who went missing when a cargo ship sank in bad weather near Taiwan.

The tropical cyclone slammed into Taiwan on Wednesday night with wind speeds equivalent to those of a Category 3 hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean. It submerged roads, led to flight cancellations, and forced the closure of schools and businesses.

As of Thursday the storm had killed at least two people in Taiwan and 15 in the Philippines, officials said, and caused disruptions across the region.

A cargo ship sank early Thursday morning near the Taiwanese port city of Kaohsiung, officials on the island said. A rescue operation was underway on Thursday afternoon for missing crew members, all of them from Myanmar. Three other ships were reported to be stranded near Taiwan.

A tanker carrying fuel oil also sank off the coast of the Philippines on Thursday, as the cyclone’s remnants complicated efforts to prevent the ship’s contents from spilling into the water.

Gaemi was moving across the Taiwan Strait early Thursday afternoon. It was expected to make landfall in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian in the late afternoon or evening with the force of a Category 1 hurricane.

Taiwan, an island of about 23 million people, lies about 100 miles from the Chinese mainland.

Fuzhou, Fujian’s provincial capital, banned group gatherings, closed schools and tourist attractions, and ordered the closure of nonessential businesses as the storm neared. Other coastal Chinese provinces were evacuating tourists and asking ships to take shelter.

The storm was forecast to bring heavy rainfall to other parts of China, including Beijing, while moving inland over