One seaman was killed and 20 were reported missing after a cargo ship with 25 Chinese crew on board sank off Japan’s southern islands, Japanese and Taiwanese coast guards said yesterday.
Taiwanese maritime authorities informed the Japan Coast Guard that the Panama-registered ship went missing about 340km south of Iriomote Island in the Pacific early on Wednesday, officials said.
The 17,000-tonne Nasco Diamond left Indonesia on Thursday last week for China carrying 55,000 tonnes of nickel.
Photo: AFP
Four crewmembers had so far been rescued, Japanese officials said, as a search and rescue operation continued in the hope of finding other survivors.
It was not immediately clear what caused the ship to sink, as weather conditions in the area were calm with moderate wind, good visibility and no rain, the coast guard said.
Japanese and Taiwanese patrol boats have recovered one body, rescued three crewmembers and found another in critical condition, officials said.
One of the rescued crew told Japanese officials the vessel sank quickly after taking on water in the engine room.
“Water suddenly came in and then I jumped into the sea wearing a life jacket,” the 26-year-old male crewmember told Japanese officials.
“After that, it took less than five minutes for the ship to sink,” said the man, who was said to be in good health.
Japan sent a helicopter with a doctor on board to the Taiwanese patrol boat to pick up two rescued crewmembers in need of medical attention and to bring them to a Japanese island in the region.
A Japanese patrol boat also recovered a life raft drifting about 28km southwest of the site where the ship was believed to have sunk, but found no one inside.
Patrol aircraft were dispatched to the site. An oil slick was spotted on the surface of nearby waters, but officials have yet to locate the vessel.
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