2 Dead in Ship Collision off Mie Pref.

Tsu, Mie Pref., Feb. 20 (Jiji Press)--A cargo ship collided with a leisure fishing boat off Toba, Mie Prefecture, central Japan, on Friday, leaving two men dead.

Of 13 people aboard the 16-ton fishing boat, Kokichi Taniguchi, 84, and Motohiro Nakagawa, 67, both anglers from Matsusaka, Mie, died, while 10 other men in their 60s to 80s were injured, according to the Toba Coast Guard Office and other sources.

The 499-ton cargo ship is believed to have rammed into the boat that was anchored for fishing, splitting the fishing boat's hull in two.

The cargo ship, under the command of a 21-year-old female navigator, departed the port of Kinuura in Aichi Prefecture, which neighbors Mie, around 10 a.m. Friday and was heading for the port of Mizushima in Okayama Prefecture, western Japan.

The leisure fishing boat departed a port in Toba around 11:40 a.m. with the captain and 12 anglers aboard, and had been anchored near the accident scene since around noon.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]