Cargo ship sinks between Japan, S Korea; 17 missing

Seventeen crew members of a cargo ship that sunk in bad weather are being sought after by Japan and South Korea.

Five crew members were reportedly saved on Wednesday after the 6,551-tonne “Jintian” sank off the coast of Japan’s Nagasaki, according to Japanese and South Korean media. They were all taken aboard by nearby vessels.

According to Japan’s Kyodo news agency, the “Jintian” sank about four hours after its crew issued a distress call late on Tuesday.

The crew reportedly stated that their ship had “tilted and is overflowing.”

According to Japanese officials, 14 of the ship’s crew members are Chinese and eight are from Myanmar. The ship is registered in Hong Kong.

The ship’s captain reportedly last made contact with the coast guard of South Korea’s Jeju Island via satellite phone at approximately 2:41 a.m. local time on Wednesday (17:41 a.m. GMT Tuesday), informing them that the crew would abandon ship.

According to the Yonhap news agency, the ship was entirely buried when the South Korean Coast Guard arrived on the site.

On the three life rafts and two lifeboats the crews searched, nobody was discovered.

The cause of the ship’s capsize, which was transporting lumber, was not immediately known.

The incident occurred during a cold wave that affected most of Japan and South Korea, with heavy snowfall in some parts and daytime highs of just 3C on some of the islands closest to the rescue site (37F)

Strong winds were present when the distress signal was received, according to the Japanese coast guard.

It claimed to have sent out patrol boats and aircraft, but bad weather delayed their arrival.

Credit: Al-Jazeera