Typhoon Gaemi sinks freighter off Taiwan, nine crew missing

TAIPEI/BEIJING (WAM)

Typhoon Gaemi swept through northern Taiwan on Thursday, killing two people, triggering flooding and sinking a freighter offshore, before heading across the sea and into China where it is expected to dump more torrential rain, Reuters said. 

Taiwan's fire department said a Tanzania-flagged freighter with nine Myanmar nationals on board had sunk off the coast of the southern port city of Kaohsiung and there had been no response from the crew. 

Search efforts were ongoing, it added.

Gaemi made landfall around midnight (1600 GMT Wednesday) on the northeastern coast of Taiwan in Yilan county. It is the strongest typhoon to hit the island in eight years and was packing gusts of up to 227kmph before weakening, according to the Central Weather.

As of 8:30 am (0100 GMT), it was in the Taiwan Strait and heading toward Fuzhou in China's Fujian province.

The storm cut power to around half a million households in Taiwan, though most are now back online, utility Taipower said.