Lebanese navy said on Friday it has rescued 38 people and found four bodies off the coast of north Lebanon, after a cargo ship with 83 people on board sank . . .

Rescue workers help a survivor of a sunken Panama ship after he was rescued off the port of Tripoli in northern Lebanon, December 17, 2009. Dozens of people were missing on Thursday after a ship carrying livestock sank in the Mediterranean off Lebanon in stormy weather, Lebanese naval sources said.(Xinhua/AFP Photo)

One of the rescued said the British captain has died, local NowLebanon news website reported.

Local newspaper Daily Star quoted a port official in Tripoli assaying that many of the ship’s crew members were from the Philippines and Pakistan.

Lebanese navy and UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) maritime task force are still searching for survivors.

However, rescue efforts were hampered by heavy rain and thunderstorms that lashed Lebanon on Thursday and Friday. Many roads in the country were blocked due to flooding triggered by the heavy rainfall.

The freighter is the second ship that sank off Lebanese coastal waters in a week. A Togolese-flagged freighter capsized around 70 km off the coast of Lebanon’s south city of Tyre on Dec. 11.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet