TOKYO: A Belize-registered cargo ship has sunk off the village of Rokkasho in Aomori Prefecture, northeastern Japan, after colliding with a Japanese fishing boat, leaving 13 crew members missing.

Around 10:15 p.m. Saturday (1:15 p.m. GMT), the freighter reported the collision to the Japan Coast Guard's second regional headquarters in the city of Shiogama in the northeastern prefecture of Miyagi.

The 1,989-ton Guo Xing 1 cargo ship sank about 20 minutes later. One of its 14 non-Japanese crew members--a Vietnamese man in his 30s--was rescued, but the 13 others are unaccounted for.

The coast guard and others are searching for the missing crew members.

The fishing boat that collided with the freighter was the 138-ton No. 8 Tomi Maru, owned by a company in the city of Hachinohe in Aomori.

The rescued Vietnamese man was sent to hospital by ambulance. He is conscious and can walk. Of the missing crew members, seven are Chinese, five Vietnamese and one Filipino, according to the regional coast guard headquarters.

Meanwhile, 13 Japanese and two Indonesian crew members were on the fishing boat. One of the Japanese crew members was slightly injured in the collision.

Two investigators from the Japan Transport Safety Board of the Japanese transport ministry are set to examine the cause of the incident.

JIJI Press