Two die after fishing boats collide with cargo ship off Wakayama, western Japan

Two trawlers capsized after collision with a cargo ship which also hit their fishing nets off the western Japanese prefecture of Wakayama on Friday morning, leaving two men on the fishing vessels dead, coast guard officials said.

The incident happened at around 8:05 a.m. local time when a 499- ton cargo ship collided with two fishing vessels and then hit fishing trawls pulled by them, about three km off the coastline of Yura Town of the prefecture, according to the 5th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters in Kobe City, western Japan.

A spokesperson for the coast guard office told Xinhua that there were three crew members on the two fishing boats, which belong to a local fisheries cooperative in the prefecture, and all the three fishermen were thrown into the water from their boats which overturned after the accident. Although the three men were carried to hospitals, two of those rescued, aged 54 and 61, later died, he added.

The spokesperson also noted that the weather was clear and the sea was calm at the time of the accident, and the cargo ship was sailing from Nagoya Port in central Japan to Amagasaki Port near Osaka.

Investigation into details of the incident has been carried out by the coast guard office.