13 crew members are still missing and presumed dead following a collision between a 120 ton fishing vessel and a 25 000 ton cargo ship off the coast of Japan last month. The accident occurred in the early hours of the morning of September 23rd, presumably due to bad light and poor weather conditions which caused the fishing vessel to not see the cargo ship until the collision was unavoidable.
The Horiei Maru bonito fishing vessel sent out a distress call following the collision, and the Japanese coast guard responded immediately. By the time the coast guard reached the scene, the fishing vessel had sunk, more than 900km off the coast of Mie Prefecture in Japan.
The coast guard were able to rescue nine of the 22 crew members of the fishing boat. 13 crew members however were missing and are now presumed dead. The 21 crew members of the Nikkei Tiger cargo ship, hailing from Panama, were all unharmed and the vessel itself sustained only minimal damage. The search for the missing crew members was officially called off earlier this month, after coast guard planes and boats searched for days for the fishermen.
The nine survivors of the incident arrived at the Sendai Shiogama Port in Japan on board the Koei Maru fishing boat days after the accident, where they were re-united with their family members, some of whom broke down in tears. Four of the survivors were Indonesian and five were Japanese citizens.
The survivors were then transported to the Japanese Coast Guard Headquarters in Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecture were they were interviewed about the circumstances surrounding the collision. The crew members of the Nikkei Tiger will also be interviewed by the Japanese Coast Guard as part of the on-going investigation into the incident when it arrives at the Ishinomaki Bay port on Sunday.
Tsuyoshi Horiguchi, the chief fisherman on board the Horiei Maru and one of the survivors, spoke at a press conference at the port. According to Horichugi, the fishing vessel and cargo ship were travelling together in order to avoid a low pressure system when the collision occurred.
According to reports by the regional coast guard, there were stormy sea conditions at the time due to an approaching typhoon, which is thought to have contributed to the cause of the accident. Poor weather conditions forced the coast guard to suspend its search for the missing crew members soon after the incident.
