Fourteen crew members and the Chinese fishing vessel involved in a collision last week with Japan Coast Guard patrol boats near the disputed Senkaku Islands were released by Japanese authorities Monday, and the crew reportedly arrived in Fujian Province on an airplane chartered by the Chinese government.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said the captain, who was arrested following the incident last Tuesday, will remain in Japan.
The 14 mainland Chinese fishermen left Ishigaki Island in Okinawa Prefecture on an early afternoon flight "after China's repeated solemn representations," the official Xinhua news agency said, adding that the plane carrying the fishermen that were "illegally seized by Japanese authorities" landed in the southeastern port city of Fuzhou later in the day.