Last Update: January 26, 2023, at 4:40 pm
Japan’s coast guard said three private vessels in the area helped rescue the five stranded crew members. (Representational image/PTI)
The Jin Tian, carrying crews from China and Myanmar, sent out a distress signal on Tuesday evening from a position about 110 kilometers (68 miles) west of the remote and uninhabited Danzo Islands in far southwest Japan.
A Chinese diplomat said on Thursday that eight people, including six Chinese nationals, were killed when a ship capsized in waters off the coast of Japan.
The Jin Tian, carrying crews from China and Myanmar, sent out a distress signal on Tuesday evening from a position about 110 kilometers (68 miles) west of the remote and uninhabited Danzo Islands in far southwest Japan.
The Jeju Coast Guard said the ship’s captain used a satellite phone to tell the South Korean coast guard that he and the crew would leave the sinking early Wednesday morning.
Several ships and aircraft from Japan’s coast guard and military have also been involved in the search, with 13 crew members being evacuated.
Japan’s coast guard said three private vessels in the area helped rescue the five stranded crew members.
China’s consul general in the city of Fukuoka, Lu Guijun, told state broadcaster CGTN on Thursday that of the 13 people found, “eight have been confirmed dead, six of whom are Chinese”.
“Five of them – including the four Chinese crew members – are not in a life-threatening condition,” he said.
“We express our deepest sympathies to the unfortunate victims.”
Japanese officials have not yet confirmed the figures given by the Chinese diplomat, telling AFP on Thursday that they could only say that nine were missing and two had died of the 13 people.
The Fukuoka Consulate said officials from local Chinese missions visited the Nagasaki Coast Guard, where they laid flowers for the dead crew members and expressed their condolences.
The consulate said they visited the survivors and delivered a message from Kong Xuanyu, China’s ambassador to Japan, providing them with clothing, food and drink.
The accident occurred as a cold wave hit much of Asia, with daytime temperatures reaching only three °C (37 °F) on some of the Japanese islands near the rescue site.
Japan’s coast guard said the 6,651-tonne Jin Tian is registered in Hong Kong.
In 2020, a cargo ship with 43 crew and 6,000 head of cattle sank in southwestern Japan after being caught in a typhoon. Two crew survived.
read all breaking news Here
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)