Two Filipino sailors have confessed to killing a Japanese sailor who vanished at sea April 7 off Taiwan, the Japan Coast Guard said Thursday.
The Filipino crew members of the 148,330-ton tanker Tajima, a Panamanian-registered vessel owned by Tokyo-based Kyoei Tanker Co., said they killed Izumi Shimba, 52, a second mate from Kyoto, the coast guard said.
The Tajima, with her crew of 24, arrived off the port of Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, last Friday, according to the coast guard, adding it has found bloodstains aboard the ship.
But the coast guard cannot probe the case because the incident happened on a foreign-registered ship in international waters.