A ship broke in half during a typhoon in the South China Sea on 2 July, with more than 2 dozen crew members missing.
The Hong Kong Government Flying Service said that the 30-member crew abandoned the engineering vessel that was 160 nautical miles southwest of Hong Kong after it suffered substantial damage and broke in two pieces.
3 people have since been rescued and sent to the hospital, while the remainder of the missing crew is still at large.
Rescuers were informed of the incident at about 7.25am local time, and the ship was found near the centre of Typhoon Chaba.
The rescue operation was made all the more arduous by the harsh weather conditions and the nearby wind farms.
Wind speeds of 144kph and 10 metre high waves were recorded at the location of the shipwreck, with the government flying service dispatching two sorties of fixed wing aircraft and 4 helicopter sorties.