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Two fisherman have died and another was fighting for his life after two boats collided with a cargo ship in Japan Friday, officials said, days after two men were killed in an accident with a naval vessel.
The two Japanese boats capsized in the collision with a 499-ton Panama-registered cargo ship, with three fishermen thrown into the water off western Wakayama Prefecture shortly after 8:00 am, a local coast guard official said.
"They were rescued and taken to hospital. One of them died, while another was unconscious," he said. The man's death was announced shortly afterwards.
The third man is in a critical condition, the official said.
The incident came just two days after a leisure fishing boat collided with a Japanese naval transport ship -- the 8,900-ton Osumi -- in waters between two of the country's main islands. Two men were killed in the collision.
© (c) 2014 AFP
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tmarie
TWO boats? I think it's time that Japan clamp down on who gets boating licenses here.
RIP to the victims.
smithinjapan
tmarie: If that than SHIP licenses, too.
CrazyJoe
The fishermen especially in small fishing boats (vessels) should wear life jackets just in case.
tmarie
I always thought it was the smaller vessels who had to get out of the way of ships. no way anything that size can turn on a dime. Besides, IF you are paying attention you can see these suckers coming in and move. Two bloody boats? How on earth does that happen?
wildwest
You need a license to take a boat out in japan. Watch keepers are not doing there job. Small boats need to keep out of the way
KariHaruka
Yep you are correct. Smaller vessels always have to get out of the way of larger vessels. Same as how motor vessels have to get out of the way of sail vessels.
funny car
Be that as it may, it still leaves open the question of who collided with whom. The wording of the headline and article makes it seem like the smaller vessels hit the cargo ship, but I seriously doubt that.
Another thing to consider is that these fishing vessels are probably stationary with nets deployed. How long they would stay like that, I don't know, but it could be many hours. When the cargo ship arrived, they may have been napping or eating below decks (it is winter after all). And even if they did see the ship coming, they may hesitate to move quickly as that may mean loosing the nets and all their catch.
One has to wonder if the cargo ship had anyone on the look out or if they tried to warn the fishing boats with horn blasts.