BEIJING: Seven more bodies were found in the toppled Chinese fishing vessel after it collided with a tanker , taking the total death toll to 13, the Chinese Consulate General in Osaka said.
On Thursday, the 290-ton "Lurong Yuanyu 378" fishing vessel from the Chinese mainland collided with a tanker of Hong Kong in international waters, some 400 km north of the Oki Islands in western Japan.
The Hong Kong-flagged ship was identified as "Brightoil Lucky", a 63,294-ton tanker carrying 21 crew members.
The tanker's crew were believed to be safe.
The vessel had 16 crew members in total. Earlier, one of them was found dead, while three were rescued by nearby fishing vessels and 12 others were missing.
Three patrol vessels of the Japan Coast Guard had begun work since early yesterday with frogmen sent to search for the missing people, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted the consulate general as saying.
Five bodies were found in the vessel last morning and seven more were found in the afternoon.
The bodies have been transferred to another Chinese fishing vessel nearby.
The consulate general said it will continue to keep contact with the Japanese side to coordinate for the follow-up issue, the Xinhua report said.