A cargo ship sank in the East China Sea off the coast of Japan for unknown reasons. Eight of the 22 crew members are still missing.
Boats searching for survivors said they have pulled 14 people out of the water so far. Little is known about the condition of the people rescued on the ship, except that some of them may have been rendered unconscious. Airplanes and boats are used to search for other missing persons. It is not clear if they were in the lifeboats. The rescue operation is complicated by high winds and waves.
A distress signal has been sent
The cargo ship, the Hong Kong-registered Jin Tian, ran into trouble on Tuesday night. The Japanese Coast Guard reported that the ship sent a distress signal just before midnight and sank a few hours later. At that time there was a strong wind at sea. Some of those on board were rescued by nearby ships, others by Japanese and South Korean authorities.
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The Jin Tian sank 110 kilometers from the remote Danju Islands, which are part of Japan, and nearly 150 kilometers from the South Korean island of Jeju. The ship had left Papua New Guinea earlier this month with a cargo of timber and was on its way to the port of Incheon in South Korea. The crew is from China and Myanmar.
The Jintian was on its way to a South Korean port.
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