12 missing, one hurt, as freighter runs aground off Japan

Twelve crew members are missing and one is critically injured after a freighter caught fire and ran aground off Japan’s eastern Pacific coast today, officials said.

Kyodo News agency reported that the freighter had split in two in heavy wind and rain.

Coastguard official Shu Sasaki said twelve of the 24 crew aboard the freighter, the Panamanian-registered Giant Step, were missing. Another crew member was found near the shore, but was unconscious, Sasaki said.

The ship was about a mile off Kashima port, Sasaki said.

Rescue boats couldn’t get near the stranded ship because of the wind and rain, but rescuers had been sent along the coast to look out for the missing, Sasaki said.

The fire broke out in the cabin area of the 98,587-tonne freighter while it was heading to Kashima from Australia, according to the Coastguard. Officials didn’t know what caused the fire.

The ship had initially reported that none of its 24 crew members – one Sri Lankan and 23 Indians – was injured.

Kashima is 60 miles east of Tokyo.