(LONDON) — A United Arab Emirates-flagged cargo ship with 30 people onboard sank on Thursday in the Persian Gulf off the southern coast of Iran.

The ship sank due to turbulence in poor weather about 30 miles from Asaluyeh, local authorities said.

Rescuers were immediately dispatched from different parts of Iran’s southern coastline to rescue the ship’s crew, Iranian media reported.

Twenty-nine of the 30 crew members have been rescued so far, a crisis-mitigation official told Islamic Republic News Agency.

Iranian local crisis mitigation official Jahangir Dehghani told IRNA on Thursday that the rescue operation to find the missing crew was continuing.

“At present, two lifeboats … are present at the scene of the accident,” he said.

Due to the strong wind in the northwest direction, the Persian Gulf was reportedly quite rough and turbulent. Wind speeds were recorded at more than 43 miles per hour.

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