Four dead, 5 missing in ship collision
By Guan Xiaofeng (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-07-23 07:13

Three Chinese crew members were confirmed dead while five remain missing following a collision between two ships early Friday morning off Japan's eastern coast, a Chinese Embassy spokesman in Tokyo said.

The collision occurred at around 5:10 am (2010 GMT) about 10 kilometres southwest of the Cape Inubosaki in the Chiba prefecture that neighbours Tokyo in the east.

A helicopter hovers over a rescue vessel at the scence of ship collision off Japan's eastern coast. [cyol.net]

The Wei Hang 9, a 3,947-ton freighter registered in Malta, with 21 Chinese crew members sank after the incident. The other ship, a Japanese-registered 499-ton freighter, survived the accident and its crew remained unhurt.

The victim died of a serious injury in the hospital after being rescued.

Two consulates from the Chinese Embassy have arrived at the hospital and visited the rescued sailors, some of whom were slightly injured.

Japan Coast Guard ships and helicopters searched for the missing Chinese crew members. The cause of the accident is still under investigation.

The sunken ship set off from Shiogama in Japan's Miyagi prefecture and was bound for Dalian, a port in Northeast China's Liaoning Province, carrying 5,800 tons of scrap iron.

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