Crew members on a passenger ferry just purchased for use in Indonesia issued a Mayday Monday morning to the Japan Coast Guard after the vessel began taking on water off Yakushima Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, the coast guard said.
The coast guard rescued the 12 Indonesian members from the 833-ton Masagena by helicopter. There were no passengers on the ship and no reports of injuries, the coast guard said.
The crew told the coast guard that the ship lost power after water flooded the engine room. A coast guard aircraft reported the ship was dead in the water and sinking.
The Masagena was sold by Shikoku Ferry in Kagawa Prefecture to an Indonesian ferry firm on March 20, after it was retired from serving routes on the Seto Inland Sea.
The ferry was on its way to Indonesia after leaving Onomichi, Hiroshima Prefecture, on Sunday.