13 Missing After Freight Ship Sank Off Aomori
Thirteen crew members of a freighter are missing after the vessel collided with a fishing boat and sank off the northern Japanese prefecture of Aomori on Saturday.
Coast Guard officials say the 1,989-ton cargo vessel, "Guoxing-1 ," notified them that the ship was taking on water after a collision with a fishing boat.
They say the vessel later sank and only one of the 14-member crew has been rescued by a nearby fishing boat.
The Coast Guard has deployed five patrol boats in the search for the missing 13.
The officials say the collision occurred about 12 kilometers east of a port in Rokkasho Village.
The fishing boat involved in the collision is the 138-ton "Daihachi Tomimaru," owned by a local company in the prefecture.
Its crew consists of 13 Japanese and two Indonesians. All of them escaped any serious injury.
