11 rescued so far

Tracing a news story: Starting from the beginning: "A vessel build in Liberia named “NIKO IVENKA” has been dedicated and is prepared for full operation. The vessel was produced by a company called HYLAEA INCORPORATED." A second story explains why it was considered "Made in Liberia:" "The NIKO IVANKA was locally built by HYLAEA INC. in Marshall, Margibi County in four months...could address the deplorable road challenge being experienced in the Southeastern region."

Three years later, the cargo ship (not authorized to carry passengers) was in trouble: The vessel was advised on so many occasions not to sail, FrontPageAfrica gathered.

It started to sink: 11 rescued. The picture in that story suggests a calm evacuation (there'a a photographer there!), so I don't know why 15-17 should still be missing, unless they had reason to want to be not found, or they were never there to begin with.

Who to blame? "We are commissioning an investigation into how a vessel that was detained for failure to meet rudimentary safety requirements managed to get on the sea with passengers and cargo," Nagbe said.... "The vessel's owner, a Chinese national, was arrested on Sunday afternoon"

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I don't expect reports about passenger count to be accurate--certainly not right away.

It isn't obvious where the name Hylaea came from, but the hint in an earlier paragraph suggests Hylaea Inc is a Chinese firm.

I didn't know Liberia had a shipyard. Neither, apparently, does Google.

According to UNCTaDStat Liberia had no significant ship-building in 2019. The 2019 report only mentions 2017--I can't find info for 2018. And when I look up a satellite map of Marshall, I don't see any obvious shipyard infrastructure.

The ship was "built in Liberia"--in specific in Marshall. That just doesn't look plausible (look at the map yourself). The claim could be a complete lie, of course. Or it might have been partly true--the ship might have been finished in Liberia (but who'd send an unfinished ship around the world?), or it might have been superficially refurbished there--redoing the pilot house, wiring, and the paint job on a worn-out tub. I'd guess the third option is the likeliest--a quick refurb of a junker and a big press release. OK, maybe not new wiring Building a freighter in four months seems a bit of a stretch for Liberia--even in a wartime economy in the US after optimizing for speed it took a month and a half--it had taken nearly a year when we started.

And the old tub didn't hold up very well. (I can't figure out which "cargo ship" it might be here--maybe it's too late)