The Japanese and South Korean coastguards were still looking for eight crew members out of the 22 of a cargo ship that sank the previous night off the south-west of the Japanese archipelago, at sea on Wednesday January 25. from eastern China.
"
A total of 14 have been rescued
" so far, a Japanese coast guard spokesman told AFP.
"
We still don't know their condition and their nationalities
."
Eleven of them were in an "
unconscious
" state, the South Korean coast guard told AFP, which found six of the castaways, who were transported to the port of Nagasaki, in the south-west of Japan.
late night SOS
The Jin Tian, a 6,651-ton Hong Kong-registered cargo vessel, issued an SOS late Tuesday evening Japanese time while about 110 km west of the Danjo Islands, a remote micro-archipelago and uninhabited in southwestern Japan.
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Three other commercial boats were in the area at the time and were able to rescue several of the castaways, according to the Japanese coast guard.
A Japanese Coast Guard plane and two boats were on site Wednesday (January 25th), and other ships from Japan and South Korea were expected to arrive as reinforcements, authorities in Tokyo and Seoul said.
Cold snap in East Asia
The sinking of the Jin Tian came as an unusually severe cold snap hit East Asia.
Daytime temperatures on islands closest to the crash site barely reach 3°C.
According to the Japanese Coast Guard, the Jintan's crew included a total of 14 Chinese and 8 Burmese.
