TOKYO: North Korean cargo vessel carrying rice sank off the coast of Japan late Wednesday due to a leakage. There were twenty-six North Koreans members on board who were rescued without sustaining injuries.
Japan Coast Guard patrol boats were taken out the entire crew from the water in the early hours of the morning after they had abandoned the vessel and taken to life boats.
A spokesman said after receiving a distress signal from the ship, which had run into difficulties off Japan’s Kyushu Prefecture, 38 miles (61 kilometers) southwest of the Goto Islands, the Japanese Coast Guard (JCG) immediately rushed to the rescue.
A 6,558-ton cargo ship, the Chong Gen was carrying 5,720 tons of rice from Nampo port on North Korea’s west coast to Wongsan in the east, according to the JCG.
The ship finally sank before dawn some 27 kilometers from the island.The official said the JCG considers the incident as a straightforward shipwreck case and there were no signs of abnormalities.
The spokesman said no decision has been made on what to do with the crew as the two countries have no diplomatic relations.