8 Crew Members Missing after Boat Capsizes Off Japan

All eight crew members of a Japanese fishing boat went missing Tuesday after the vessel capsized about 600 kilometers off the country’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido, the Japan Coast Guard said.

The report said that the missing crew members had told the crew of another boat over a satellite phone on Tuesday morning that the boat had been hit by a high wave.

The Maritime Self-Defense Force decided to dispatch a plane to search for them throughout Tuesday night at the request of the coast guard. Coast guard boats also joined the rescue effort.

The coast guard found a lifeboat near the empty fishing boat, but no one was on it.