BEIRUT: A Filipino man was found alive Saturday by the Syrian Navy two days after his ship sank offshore from the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli with more than 80 people on board, even as hope for other rescues faded.

Officials in Tripoli port had all but lost hope of finding more survivors, after three navy vessels returned to shore two hours later empty-handed.

The latest survivor had been recovered near Syria’s Mediterranean coast further north earlier in the day, bringing to 40 the number of people rescued, with 11 dead bodies also found.

“Wilson Vincent from the Philippines was found near Tartus,” Tripoli port authority chief Ahmad Tamer said. He said the man was in “stable” condition.

Tamer warned that hope of finding any others was diminishing by Saturday evening.

Rescue teams have been battling rough conditions in the hunt for survivors from the Danny F II, a freighter which went down in a storm on Thursday with its British captain among those believed to have drowned.

The search “is ongoing, but we’ve covered our waters, and sadly there don’t seem to be any signs of more survivors or bodies,” a Lebanese military spokesman said earlier.

Lebanese and Syrian vessels as well as the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were involved in rescue efforts, as was a British helicopter from Cyprus.

But officials were hesitant to say more than 30 people still missing were presumed dead after two days of heavy winds and torrential rain.

The Dany F II was transporting livestock from Montevideo in Uruguay to the Syrian port of Tartus when it was hit by storm and altered course for Lebanon.

A statement from the Lebanese Red Cross said that most of the survivors were being treated in hospital for “exhaustion, broken bones and concussions.”

Most of the crew were believed to be Pakistanis but there were also nationals from Australia, Russia, Lebanon, Syria, the Philippines, Britain and Uruguay.

Port officials in Tripoli said the vessel’s manifesto showed it was carrying 10,000 sheep and 18,000 cattle. This would account for the large number of crew, many of whom were looking after the animals, port sources said.

Last week, a cargo ship bound for the northern Israeli port of Haifa from Greece, sank in stormy weather in international waters near the Lebanese coast. Six of its 12 crew members were rescued by the Israeli Navy.