An unidentified ship spotted within Japan's exclusive economic zone in the East China Sea sank Saturday night after being shot at by Japan Coast Guard vessels that had been pursuing it, coast guard officials said.
Two men who had been covered in blankets on the ship's deck suddenly sprang up and fired shots from what may have been machine guns at the coast guard vessels just minutes before it went down, injuring two officers and damaging three patrol ships, they said.
Coast guard officials said Saturday evening that there was a "strong possibility" that the vessel was a North Korean spy ship.