Cargo ship collides with vessel in western Japan sea

A Japanese cargo ship collided with a foreign vessel late on Thursday in the Seto Inland Sea, off the island of Shikoku in western Japan. Of 12 crew members on the Japanese freighter, nine were rescued but three were still missing, according to local reports. The Japanese coast guard was searching for the missing crew members in waters roughly 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) north of the coast of Imabari in Ehime prefecture.

The Byakko collided Thursday night with a chemical tanker operated by a South Korean company, and the collision caused the Byakko to sink. Ulsan Pioneer tanker was run by South Korean firm Heung-A Shipping Co. with 13 crew members, including Korean and Myanmar nationals, the coast guard said in a statement. It departed a port in China on Tuesday for Osaka, Japan, conveying acetic acid. None of the Ulsan Pioneer’s crew members was injured.