Board-Ansicht
Mix-Ansicht- Crew missing after Japanese sink 'spy' boat - El Sheik, 24.12.2001, 14:35
- Japan's emperor makes reference to possible roots in Korea - El Sheik, 24.12.2001, 14:54
Crew missing after Japanese sink 'spy' boat
Mal wieder einer dieser Zwischenfælle... War nicht einst der Beschuss eines US-Submarines Anlass fuer den Vietnamkrieg gewesen? Wie war das doch gleich damals, wer erinnert sich?
An Geschichte und Geschichten gleichsam interessiert.
El Sheik
Crew missing after Japanese sink 'spy' boat
AP - The coast guard is conducting a search for the missing crew of a boat suspected of spying for North Korea after the fishing vessel sank in a six-hour high-seas stand-off with Japanese authorities.
After trading fire with coast guard vessels late on Saturday, the bullet-ridden fishing vessel foundered about 390km off the Japanese island of Amami Oshima and an estimated 15 crewmen were dumped in rough seas.
Two Japanese coast guard personnel were slightly wounded in the shooting.
The coast guard was deploying 12 ships and 13 aircraft to search for the fishing vessel crew members, said coast guard spokeswoman Hisako Nakabayashi.
There were no immediate signs of survivors, she added.
In the incident, the fishing ship fled west toward China on Saturday afternoon after a Japanese coast guard vessel had approached it and ordered it to stop for inspection.
The ship ignored coast guard warning shots.
The Japanese vessel then hit the boat's stern with a burst of machine gun that set it ablaze as it continued its flight.
Four Japanese coast guard vessels finally surrounded it about six hours later.
Before the trapped boat could be boarded, its crew sprayed the Japanese ships with submachine-gun fire, hitting two Japanese sailors.
The Japanese vessels responded with machine-gun fire, and the boat sank within minutes.
Survivors thrown into the water clung to life preservers for nearly two hours as coast guard officials waited for an opportunity to pluck them from the water.
Rescue efforts were slowed by rough waves and concern the castaways might resist, officials said.
Japanese coast guard and defence officials said the unidentified fishing boat may have been spying for North Korea, and some suggested the crew members may have killed themselves to avoid capture.
Japan has exclusive fishing rights in the area, which extends 200 nautical miles beyond its territorial waters, coast guard officials said.
Two suspected North Korean spy ships were chased out of Japanese waters by coast guard vessels in March 1999.
Warning shots were fired but the intruders were not hit or apprehended.
In 1998, an alleged North Korean spy submarine got tangled in a fishing net off South Korea. All nine crew members were found shot dead in an apparent suicide pact.
Neither North Korean state media nor China's official Xinhua News Agency had reported the incident by Sunday morning.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry was closed for the weekend.
Amami Oshima is about 900km southwest of Tokyo.
<ul> ~ http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/story_23759.asp</ul>
<center>
<HR>
</center>
Thread gesperrtgesamter Thread:
