South Korea's Coast Guard said Tuesday that seven South Korean sailors went missing after their cargo ship collided with a larger freighter and sank off the coast of Japan, Xinhua reported.
According to the coast guard, the seven South Koreans and nine other Indonesian crew aboard the 4,255-ton South Korean-registered ship Orchid Pia went missing after colliding with a a Panamanian- registered automobile carrier at around 2:15 a.m. (1715 GMT Monday) about seven miles east of Japan's Izu Oshima island.
The 10,833-ton Panamanian ship was also sinking but all of the 11 sailors on board were rescued by Japanese coast guard authorities, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency said.
The Orchid Paia was carrying some 5,050 tons of steel coil from Japan to the southern South Korean port of Yeosu when the accident took place, it added.