MITO -- A leisure fishing boat and a cargo ship collided off Kashima Port in Ibaraki Prefecture on Saturday morning, killing a passenger and injuring 11 others aboard the fishing boat, according to a local Japan Coast Guard station.
The Third Regional Coast Guard Headquarters was alerted about the collision at about 5:35 a.m. on the same day.
According to the Kashima Coast Guard Station, all 12 people aboard the fishing boat -- two crew members and 10 customers -- were thrown into the sea. All of them were retrieved from the water, but a 46-year-old man from Tokyo was later confirmed dead at a hospital to which he was transported. Four men from Tokyo and Yamanashi Prefecture, who were aboard the boat for leisure fishing, were taken to the hospital for broken bones and other injuries. Seven others sustained minor injuries. The crew of the cargo ship were not injured.
The coast guard station is investigating the cause of the collision.
The collision occurred between the leisure fishing boat Fudo Maru No. 5 and the 498-ton cargo ship Hayato. After the incident, the fishing boat was seen submerged with its bow sticking out of the water near the port, which straddles Kashima and Kamisu.
According to a local fishery association to which the fishing boat belongs, the Fudo Maru specialized in flounder fishing. The collision with the cargo ship occurred soon after the fishing boat left the port shortly after 5 a.m. on Saturday.
The 34-year-old captain of the Koei Maru No. 3, who was involved in the rescue activities, said he heard a call for a rescue from the cargo ship at about 5:30 a.m. He also heard someone nearby calling, "Help."
As the area where the collision had occurred was dark, the captain shone a light on the surface of the sea and saw two men in life jackets drifting in the water, he said. Another man was on the hull of the boat, which had capsized and floated to the surface. The captain threw life rings to them and rescued them from the sea. They were shivering in the cold, he said.
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