6 killed in Chinese fishing boat fire off Japanese coast

A Chinese fishing boat caught fire off the Japanese coast on Friday, leaving six people dead and one badly injured, one slightly injured, an official from the Chinese Consulate General in Fukuoka told Xinhua.

The tragedy occurred about 280 km northwest of Amami Island, Kagoshima Prefecture in southern Japan at about 2:20 p.m. local time (0520 GMT), the official said.

According to the official, there are 24 crew members on board of the Zhejiang registered boat, all are Chinese. One of the wounded people has been transferred by a passing Chinese boat.

The boat could still sail normally after the fire, so it prepared to convey the bodies of the six crewmen and the others back to China as soon as possible, the official said.