UPDATE - 7 crew members dead after South Korean tanker capsizes off Japan

UPDATES WITH STATEMENT OF JAPAN COAST GUARD, CHANGES HEADER, INTRO

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) - At least seven crew members died after a South Korean-flagged tanker capsized off Japan on Wednesday, according to officials in Tokyo.

Search for two more is going on, Japan Coast Guard said, according to public broadcaster NHK.

Earlier, the coast guard had said it rescued six of 11 crew members but later revised the numbers.

The chemical tanker Keoyoungsun had made a distress call to the Japanese Coast Guard in the country’s western Yamaguchi province early today.

Heavy winds had forced the tanker to anchor and was seen tilting in the waters while 11 crew members, including two South Koreans, eight Indonesians and a Chinese, were aboard.

An aircraft and a patrol vessel is continuing search in waters west of Mutsurejima, an island that is part of Shimonoseki city on Japan’s main Honshu island.