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TOKYO - JAPAN and Chinese coastguards stepped up the search on Sunday for 13 fishermen who have been missing since their boat collided with a freighter in international waters off southern Japan, officials said.
'We have dispatched a plane and patrol boat to the area for the search but we have so far no report of any finds,' a Japanese coastguard official said.
He said Chinese authorities had also launched three vessels for the search and rescue efforts.
The freighter, believed to be based in Hong Kong, and the Chinese fishing boat collided late Friday about 350 kilometres west of Takarajima island off Japan's Kagoshima prefecture.
The fishing boat sank with the loss of three crew with 13 more missing, but two others were rescued by another fishing vessel, the official said.
Further details about the collision remain.
Japanese officials say they have been told by Chinese authorities that the freighter is the Hong Kong-based 'Shinyo Sawako' but they have been unable to confirm this independently. -- AFP
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