ID :
49908
Tue, 03/10/2009 - 18:43
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https://www.oananews.org//node/49908
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NINE INDONESIANS MISSING IN SHIP-COLLISION IN JAPANESE WATERS
Jakarta, March 10 (ANTARA) - Nine Indonesian sailors have gone missing after a South Korean-registered vessel collided with a Panamanian-flagged cargo ship in rough seas in Japanese territorial waters early Tuesday, a foreign ministry official said.
The collision occurred between the South Korean-registered Orchid Pia and the Panamanian-flagged cargo vessel Cygnus Ace off Izu Oshima Island, about 120 km south of Tokyo, Teguh Wardoyo, the foreign affairs ministry's director for protection of Indonesian citizens and business entities, said here Tuesday.
"The Indonesian embassy in Tokyo has contacted Japan's Coast Guard via telephone and received information that nine Indonesian crew members have not been found until now," Wardoyo said.
Search efforts were still going on, he added.
AFP reported that Japanese rescue vessels and aircraft are scouring the sea looking for 16 sailors missing after a collision which coast guard officials say probably sank a South Korean freighter.
Seven South Korean and nine Indonesian sailors on board the Orchid Pia are missing, Japan's Coast Guard said.
"We believe the ship probably sank," a coast guard official told AFP.
"There is nothing we can see around the waters. We found an empty raft. We are also seeing some life jackets on the water surface. But we are yet to find any parts of the vessel."
The accident happened at night and amid low visibility as rains and strong winds battered the ships, the coast guard said.
The Cygnus Ace - a 10,833-tonne automobile carrier with 19 crew aboard, including two Indonesian sailors, - immediately reported the accident to the coast guard and said the South Korean ship had disappeared off its radar.
The 4,255-tonne Orchid Pia failed to respond to radio signals and the coast guard launched five patrol vessels and three aircraft to search for the vessel and its crew, the official said.
The Orchid Pia, carrying 5,051 tonnes of steel coils, was traveling from the port of Kashima in eastern Japan to South Korea.
The Cygnus Ace suffered some damage to its bow, aerial footage on Japanese television showed, but was able to navigate.
There were no reports that any of the crew - 14 Thai, three Myanmar and two Indonesian nationals - were injured on the Cygnus Ace, which was expected to arrive at Yokohama port later Tuesday.
The collision occurred between the South Korean-registered Orchid Pia and the Panamanian-flagged cargo vessel Cygnus Ace off Izu Oshima Island, about 120 km south of Tokyo, Teguh Wardoyo, the foreign affairs ministry's director for protection of Indonesian citizens and business entities, said here Tuesday.
"The Indonesian embassy in Tokyo has contacted Japan's Coast Guard via telephone and received information that nine Indonesian crew members have not been found until now," Wardoyo said.
Search efforts were still going on, he added.
AFP reported that Japanese rescue vessels and aircraft are scouring the sea looking for 16 sailors missing after a collision which coast guard officials say probably sank a South Korean freighter.
Seven South Korean and nine Indonesian sailors on board the Orchid Pia are missing, Japan's Coast Guard said.
"We believe the ship probably sank," a coast guard official told AFP.
"There is nothing we can see around the waters. We found an empty raft. We are also seeing some life jackets on the water surface. But we are yet to find any parts of the vessel."
The accident happened at night and amid low visibility as rains and strong winds battered the ships, the coast guard said.
The Cygnus Ace - a 10,833-tonne automobile carrier with 19 crew aboard, including two Indonesian sailors, - immediately reported the accident to the coast guard and said the South Korean ship had disappeared off its radar.
The 4,255-tonne Orchid Pia failed to respond to radio signals and the coast guard launched five patrol vessels and three aircraft to search for the vessel and its crew, the official said.
The Orchid Pia, carrying 5,051 tonnes of steel coils, was traveling from the port of Kashima in eastern Japan to South Korea.
The Cygnus Ace suffered some damage to its bow, aerial footage on Japanese television showed, but was able to navigate.
There were no reports that any of the crew - 14 Thai, three Myanmar and two Indonesian nationals - were injured on the Cygnus Ace, which was expected to arrive at Yokohama port later Tuesday.
