8 dead, including 6 Chinese nationals, after ship sinks near Japan

Three private ships in the area also helped to pick up five of the stranded crew members, Japan's coast guard said.

Eight people are dead, including six Chinese nationals, after a ship sank in waters off the coast of Japan, a Chinese diplomat and the Japanese coast guard said Thursday.

The Jin Tian, carrying crew from China and Myanmar, sent a distress signal on Tuesday evening from a position around 110 kilometres (68 miles) west of the remote and uninhabited Danjo Islands in far southwestern Japan.

The ship's captain used a satellite phone to tell the South Korean coast guard that he and the crew would abandon the sinking ship in the early hours of Wednesday morning, the Jeju coast guard said.

Multiple vessels and aircraft from Japan's coast guard and military were also involved in the search, which retrieved 13 crew members.

Three private ships in the area also helped to pick up five of the stranded crew members, Japan's coast guard said.

China's consul general in the city of Fukuoka, Lu Guijun, told state broadcaster CGTN Thursday that of the 13 people found, "eight have been confirmed dead, of whom six are Chinese".

"Five of them — including four Chinese crew members — are not in life-threatening conditions," he added.