Two South Korean fishing boats collided in waters off the coast of Japan's northernmost island on Thursday, leaving three foreign sailors unaccounted for, authorities said.
The collision happened at around 6:17 a.m. about 662 kilometers southeast of Sapporo when the 101 Geumyang-ho, en route to Russian waters, ran into the 803 Tongyeong-ho, which was on standby for operations, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
803 Tongyeong-ho (Yonhap)
The collision caused the sinking of the Geunyang-ho. A total of 38 people, including seven South Koreans, were on board and 35 of them were rescued.
The authorities are searching for the missing sailors and working to determine the exact cause of the collision. (Yonhap)