Four seamen drowned while 15 others were rescued after a 36,080-ton Panamanian-registered freighter ran aground late Thursday in stormy weather in Kagoshima Prefecture, coast guard and police officials said Friday.

Three of those who drowned were Filipinos and one was Indian, police said.

The cargo ship Co-Op Venture, apparently taking shelter from Typhoon Fengshen, ran aground several hundred meters offshore in Shibushi Bay in eastern Kagoshima Prefecture.