5 crew members have been rescued as the search for 17 remaining crews continues by Japan and South Korea after the 6,551-tonne Jintian ship sank off the coast of Japan’s Nagasaki.
Jintian’s crew sent a distress call and said their ship had tilted and was flooding late on Tuesday.
The captain of the ship last communicated to South Korea’s Jeju island coast guard through satellite phone at about 2:41 am local time on Wednesday saying that the crew would abandon the ship, South Korean officials say.
Rough weather at the sea delayed rescue efforts and the ship was completely submerged when the South Korean coast guard arrived.
14 crew members on the Hong Kong-registered ship are Chinese and eight are from Myanmar according to Japanese officials.
The cause of the accident was not clear but Japan and South Korea had experienced heavy snow falling in some areas and daytime temperatures in some of the islands nearest the rescue site reached just 3C (37F).
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