Two freighters, one Japanese and the other Cambodian, collided this morning off Wakayama Prefecture in the Pacific, sinking the Japanese ship and leaving one of the four crew members aboard that vessel missing, the Japan Coast Guard said. According to Japanese news agency "Kyodo," the 313-tons Eifuku Maru No. 7, owned by a Japanese company, and the bow of the Cambodian-registered 1,208-ton "Yin- He" No. 1 carrying 10 crew members collided at around 5:15 a.m. local time about 4 kilometers off a cape in the coastal town of Susami. The Coast Guard has dispatched a patrol boat to locate chief engineer Hideo Okamoto, 65, of the Eifuku Maru. The three other members on the ship have been rescued by a ship sailing nearby, the Coast Guard pointed out. The "Yin-He" sustained damage in six spots on the port side but its crew, all Chinese, appear unhurt, the coast guard said. It filled with some water but could sail on its own. Oil spills and debris from the "Eifuku Maru" were scattered on the sea around the site of the collision. The Eifuku Maru was carrying about 1,000 tons of scrapped iron to Wakayama port from Kinuura port in Aichi Prefecture, while the Yin He was sailing to Nagoya port from Shanghai, the Coast Guard added. -- SPA
