Decomposed body found with capsized Emerald Star's life jacket: Sushma Swaraj

NEW DELHI: External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday said that an unidentified body with a life jacket with the marking of capsized cargo ship

Emerald Star

has been discovered.

"We continued search for missing Indians on nearby islands.

Philippine Coast Guard

have now informed us that an unidentified decomposed body with a life jacket marking Emerald Star was found on 28th October 2017 on island city of Banua," the minister tweeted.

She said that "since the body was decomposed, it was buried there," but that it would be exhumed and brought to Philippines's capital

Manila

for identification by DNA.

The 33,205-tonne MV Emerald Star sank on October 13 in waters north-east of the Philippines, with 26 Indians onboard, of whom 16 were rescued, while the remaining 10 could not be found.

Japan and the Philippines had carried out extensive search missions, and the Indian government had dispatched a naval patrol aircraft to Manila to search for the missing sailors.