At least one crew member was killed Friday after a cargo ship capsized in a collision with a larger freighter in Japanese waters about 100 km south of Tokyo, the Japan Coast Guard said.
The collision between the 498-ton Eifuku Maru No. 18 and the 2,962-ton Jia Hui occurred around 1:25 a.m. about 11 km west of Izu-Oshima Island, according to the coast guard, which sent patrol boats and aircraft to search for the missing sailors.
The Eifuku Maru No. 18 had six crew members on board. All were reported missing after the collision, but the guard later found five trapped inside the capsized ship. One remains missing.
Among the five, one was confirmed dead. The condition of the others wasn't immediately clear.
All 13 crew members of the Sierra Leone-registered Jia Hui, mostly of Chinese or Myanmar nationality, appear to have been unscathed, the coast guard said. The vessel had left Kawasaki and was bound for Busan, South Korea. Another vessel sailing nearby reported the collision. The weather was fine and visibility was fairly good at the time, the coast guard said.
Owned by a Nagoya-based shipping company, the Eifuku Maru was heading for Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture.