TOKYO – Wednesday, thirteen crew members were rescued from a cargo ship that sank off the coast of southern Japan due to strong winter winds. Planes and ships, including private vessels, are searching for the remaining nine crew members.
The vessel, the 6,651-ton “Jintian” registered in Hong Kong, transmitted a distress signal late Tuesday, according to the Japan Coast Guard.
The 22 crew members, all of whom were Chinese or Myanmar nationals, were supposed to have transferred to lifeboats, according to later reports.
There were no early reports regarding the cause of the capsize of the vessel carrying lumber. Tuesday, 11:15 p.m., when the distress call was received, high winds were present, according to a Coast Guard official.
Hirokazu Matsuno, a top government official, stated that the Coast Guard quickly requested assistance from nearby patrol ships and aircraft west of Nagasaki city.
A lifeboat drifts in the ocean near the sunken cargo ship off the coast of southwest Japan on January 25, 2023.
REUTERS
The ship sank at 2:46 a.m., according to other vessels in the region, he added.
Matsuno stated during a routine news conference that the Coast Guard “is also seeking cooperation from the Self-Defense Forces, the South Korean Coast Guard, and vessels sailing near the waters.”
The five rescued crew members were all Chinese, he said, but he had no further information on their health.
A representative for the Japan Coast Guard told Reuters that the Japan Air Self-Defense Force and the Korea Coast Guard rescued the remaining eight crew members.
On January 25, 2023, aircraft and ships, including private vessels, scoured the waters southwest of Japan for the last nine.
REUTERS
Earlier, the Japan Coast Guard reported finding four crew members adrift in the water and that they were rescued by a private vessel approximately 109 kilometers west of the Danjo islands.
The Coast Guard was unable to verify allegations that the crew was in lifeboats.
Tuesday was marred by winter storms that brought cold temperatures and strong winds to western regions of Japan.
The location where the ship sank is between Nagasaki and the island of Jeju in South Korea, where hundreds of flights were canceled due to severe weather conditions on Tuesday.
Tuesday, a ship ran aground off the southern Japanese islands of Okinawa due to strong winds. The rescue of the 19 crew members was reported by the media.
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