11 crew members of HK cargo ship rescued

Tokyo (CNS) -- Japan's coast guard has rescued 11 of 17 crew members from a Hong Kong-registered cargo ship called New Lucky VII that went missing Tuesday in the East China Sea during a violent storm, according to an official source in Japan.

On Thursday afternoon, the coast guard found nine crew members on a life raft drifting about 63 kilometers from the Japanese island of Amami Oshima. Later that day, another patrol vessel found two more crew members on a raft in nearby waters.

Of the rescued survivors, eight are Indonesian and three are Chinese. No major injuries were reported.

At present, the coast guard is continuing the search for the other six crew members, who are also from Indonesia.

The 4,143-ton freighter New Lucky VII, which was carrying timber from Papua New Guinea to China, went missing after it made regular contact with the ship's owner at 7 a.m. on Tuesday.

According to the rescued crew members, at around 8 a.m. on Tuesday strong winds blew off the timber and caused the ship to lose balance and capsize.