6 missing after Japanese cargo ship capsizes

TOKYO – Japan’s coastguard was searching Friday for six crew of a Japanese cargo ship that capsized after colliding with a Sierra Leone-registered vessel.

The Eifukumaru No.18 was found capsized in waters off Japan’s Izuoshima island, around 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Tokyo by patrol boats and a plane that had been dispatched to the area, a spokesman said.

“We are still searching for six crew members, all Japanese, who were on a vessel carrying steel from Nagoya to Chiba,” he said, adding that the Sierra Leone-registered ship was not in danger.