TOKYO – Thirteen crew members were rescued on Wednesday from a cargo ship that sank off southwestern Japan during fierce winter winds, with planes and ships, including private vessels, trying to find the remaining nine.
The vessel, the 6,651-tonne Hong Kong-registered “Jintian”, issued a distress call late on Tuesday, the Japan Coast Guard said.
Media reported an individual on the ship said it was listing and taking up water, and later reports said the 22 crew members – all Chinese or Myanmar nationals – had transferred to lifeboats.
There was no immediate word on what caused the vessel, which was carrying lumber, to capsize. A Coast Guard spokesperson said winds were strong on the time the distress signal was received at around 11:15 p.m. on Tuesday.
The Coast Guard immediately sought assistance from patrol ships and aircraft within the vicinity, the west of Nagasaki city, top government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno said.
The ship sank at 2:46 a.m., he added, quoting other vessels in the realm.
The Coast Guard “can also be in search of cooperation from the Self-Defense Forces, South Korean Coast Guard, and vessels sailing near the waters,” Matsuno said at a daily news conference.
He said the five crew members who were rescued were all Chinese but had no further information on their condition.
A Japan Coast Guard spokesperson told Reuters the Japan Air Self-Defense Force and the Korea Coast Guard rescued one other eight members of the crew.
Earlier, the Japan Coast Guard said it had discovered 4 crew floating within the water and that they were rescued by a non-public vessel, around 68 miles west of the Danjo islands.
The Coast Guard couldn’t confirm reports the crew was in lifeboats.
Western parts of Japan were battered by winter storms that brought freezing, windy conditions on Tuesday.
The realm where the ship sank is between Nagasaki and South Korea’s Jeju island, where a whole bunch of flights were cancelled on Tuesday due to harsh weather conditions.
A ship ran aground in heavy wind off the southern Japanese islands of Okinawa on Tuesday. The 19 crew members were rescued, media reported.
