Cargo Ship Sinking Off the Coast of Japan: 13 Crew Survived, Nine Still Missing

Japan Coast Guard Vessel in the Senkaku Islands. (Wikimedia Commons/Al Jazeera English)

JAKARTA - Thirteen crew members were rescued Wednesday from a cargo ship that sank off the southwestern coast of Japan during fierce winter winds, while planes and ships, including a private boat, launched a search for the other nine crew members who are still missing.

The Japanese Coast Guard said the ship named 'Jintian' with a displacement of 6.651 tons registered in Hong Kong with 22 crew members (ABK) made a distress call on Tuesday night, reported Reuters January 25.

There was no immediate word on what caused the boat carrying the logs to capsize. A spokesperson for the Coast Guard said there were strong winds at the time the distress signal was received around 11.15pm local time.

The Coast Guard immediately requested assistance from patrol boats and aircraft in the vicinity, west of Nagasaki City, said government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno.

The ship sank at 02:46 local time, he added, citing other vessels in the area.

The Coast Guard "also cooperates with the Self-Defense Force, the South Korean Coast Guard, and ships sailing near the waters," Matsuno said at a regular news conference.

He said the five rescued crew members were all Chinese nationals, but there was no further information about their condition.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Japan Coast Guard told Reuters the Japan Air Self-Defence Force and the Korean Coast Guard rescued eight other crew members.

Previously, the Japanese Coast Guard said it had found four crew members floating in the water and they were rescued by a private boat, about 110 km west of Danjo Island. The Coast Guard could not confirm reports that the crew were in the lifeboats.

It is known, the western region of Japan was hit by a winter storm that brought freezing and windy conditions on Tuesday.

The area where the ship sank is between Nagasaki and South Korea's Jeju island, where hundreds of flights were canceled on Tuesday due to bad weather conditions.