A cargo ship sank in Japan’s waters this early Wednesday. A total of 14 of the 22 crew members have been found. Eight of them are confirmed to be dead.
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A massive search for the missing crew members of the sunken ship Jin Tian has been taking place in the waters of Japan since Wednesday.
The ship was a cargo ship and carried lumber, along with 22 crew members. The crew members included 14 Chinese nationals and 8 Myanmar nationals.
About the Ship That Sank
The Jin Tian is a cargo ship which was registered in Hong Kong. The ship is substantially large and weighs 6,551 tons. It is owned by Long Bright Shipping Limited, a Hong Kong-registered company and a subsidiary of Shenzhen Shekou Shipping Transportation Co., Ltd. The information on ownership is based on important documents that had been filed.
The filing was made in July by the parent company (Shenzhen Shekou) to the Chinese National Equities Exchange and Quotations. The filing also says that the ship was used as collateral for a loan that had to be repaid.
The ship was set to sail to Incheon, South Korea after leaving from Malaysia’s Port Klang on December 3rd, 2022, roughly a month and a half before the sinking took place.
Timeline of Events
Japanese coast guard spokesperson Shinya Kitahara said that the ship is estimated to have sunk three and a half hours after a distress call was made at 11:15 p.m. on Tuesday. It sank about 160 kilometers from Nagasaki, southwest of Japan, and 150 kilometers from South Korea’s Jeju Island.
Jeju Island’s coast guard said that the captain of the cargo ship last communicated with the coast guard at 2:41 a.m. on Wednesday, stating that the crew members would be abandoning the ship, just minutes before it sank.
During search and rescue operations, calls to a number listed for Shenzhen Shekou Shipping Transportation in mainland China went unanswered on Wednesday due to the weeklong Lunar New Year holiday.
As of now, Japanese and South Korean coast guards are working on the search for the missing crew members with the help of coast guard ships and aircraft. They are also accompanied by two commercial cargo ships.
6 crew members were rescued by South Korean coast guard ships, while a cargo ship rescued 5 crew members and 3 were picked up by Japanese aircraft, resulting in a total of at least 14 rescued crew members.
8 of the rescued individuals are confirmed dead, 6 of them being Chinese nationals, according to reports.
Cause of Sinking: Unknown
Kitahara said that the cause for the sinking of the ship could not be deciphered and that the vessel showed no signs of collision with any other ship, terrain, or rock. However, officials noted that the winds were particularly strong in the region around the time that the unfortunate incident took place.
According to Reuters, parts of Japan were hit by powerful storms that caused freezing and windy conditions on Tuesday.
Another ship ran aground in Okinawa amid heavy winds. All of its 19 crew members were rescued.
Officials at Jeju’s coast guard said a strong wind warning was issued for the area on Wednesday but was later lifted. Winds were blowing at around 56 kilometers per hour, creating waves 3–4 meters high.
Japan’s coast guard said that the weather remains rough with water being roughly 14 degrees celsius in temperature.
Bad weather and strong winds delayed the rescue operation as well.
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