Japanese fishing vessel collides with Russian ship, three dead — rescuers

A Japanese fishing vessel collided with a Russian ship on Wednesday off Japan’s Hokkaido island, the maritime rescue center in the Far Eastern Russian city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk told TASS.

"The ships collided," the center’s staffer said. "This is the Japanese zone."

In his words, three Japanese fishermen were killed and three injured in the accident.

"The Japanese ship capsized. Crew members fell into water. All of them were lifted aboard Russia’s Amur vessel. It is now heading to the port of Mombetsu for an inquiry," the Russian rescuers said.

The Russian Consulate General in Sapporo said it had no information about any casualties among Russians. "At the moment, circumstances surrounding the accident are being established," the consulate said.

Japan’s NHK TV channel earlier said the Japanese ship, with a water displacement of 9.7 tonnes, collided with the Russian vessel, whose water displacement is 662 tonnes. The incident occurred in the Sea of Okhotsk, 23 km off the coast of Hokkaido, NHK said.