12 missing as Chinese fishing vessel collides with tanker near Japan

Beijing: Twelve people went missing after a Chinese fishing vessel collided with a Hong Kong-registered tanker early on Wednesday in the international waters near Japan, state media reported. Four of the 16 crew members on board the vessel have been rescued, while 12 others were still missing, the state-run Xinhua news agency quoted the Chinese Consulate-General in Osaka as saying. The Japan Coast Guard has set up a response unit and sent three patrol vessels to the area where the accident occurred — some 400 km north of the Oki Islands in western Japan, it reported. The Chinese mission has sent a team to the scene to help with the rescue and is keeping contact with the Japan Coast Guard, the report from Tokyo said.