Cargo Ship Sinks; 8 crew members missing...

A total of 14 have been rescued&

Tokyo: On Wednesday, 25 January 2023, Japan and South Korea's coast guards were searching for eight crew from a cargo ship that sank between the two countries, after 14 others were rescued.

"A total of 14 have been rescued so far," a spokesman for the Japanese coast guard told AFP.

"Still, we don't know their condition and nationalities," he added.

He said six of the crew had been rescued by South Korea's coast guard, which was assisting the operation.

Eleven of those rescued were "unconscious", the Jeju Coast Guard told AFP, adding that the rescued crew members were being transported to Japan's southwestern Nagasaki.

On Tuesday evening, The Jin Tian sent a distress signal late from a position around 110 kilometres (68 miles) west of the remote and uninhabited Danjo islands in far southwestern Japan.

Three private ships were in the area and helped pick up several of the stranded crew members, Japan's coast guard said.

A Japanese coast guard plane and two ships were at the location, with additional Japanese and South Korean vessels en route, officials from both countries said.

The captain of a ship used a satellite phone to inform South Korean coast guard officials that he and the crew would abandon the sinking ship in the early hours of Wednesday morning, the Jeju Coast Guard said.

Contact with the crew was lost later.