TOKYO: Japan’s coastguard yesterday conducted the second day of a search for seven Japanese and Indonesian crew missing after a tuna fishing boat caught fire in the Pacific at the weekend.
The Japanese-registered No 8 Kaisei-maru, with two Japanese and five Indonesian men on board, was destroyed in the fire on Sunday some 410 kilometres south of Kochi prefecture in western Japan, the coastguard said in a statement.
Two patrol ships and one airplane were scouring the area, but “we have not found any clue on the fate of the crew,” an official said yesterday.
“The ship is now also missing after we last spotted it Sunday afternoon,” the official said. “It may have been submerged deep down.”
The coastguard received a report from a local fisheries radio station early Sunday that it could not contact the 19-tonne vessel.
More than four hours later, a plane spotted the burning ship, with footage showing the bridge was in flames.
It was unclear what caused the blaze.
The ship left the port of Kochi on February 20 and had planned to reach another port in nearby Wakayama prefecture on Tuesday.
Landslide kills four in Java
Jakarta: Landslide following heavy rain killed four people in the hill city of Bogor, West Java, Indonesia’s News (Antara) reported.
The accident took place at Kampong Ampera when heavy rain poured in the city.
The four victims were members of a family.
Piles of earth buried them with their house which is located on a foothill.
The process of evacuation began when the body of Supian Eman was found followed with the other members of the family, South Bogor sub-district chief Herry Karnadi said.
Agencies
