The United States Coast Guard says 24 crew members are safe after abandoning their ship off the coast of Guam.
The cargo ship Rich Forest was enroute to China with its cargo of logs when the engine room became flooded and the vessel started taking on water about 700 kilometres west of the territory.
Coast Guard officials dispatched nearby merchant vessels to aid the ship as the nearest Coast Guard vessel was 18 hours away.
By Sunday afternoon, the Chinese crew had abandoned the 150 metre ship and boarded life rafts.
About three hours later, the CS Sunshine reached the crew and safely rescued all of them.
The abandoned ship is now adrift and the coastguard is warning nearby ships of the navigation hazard
