Nine crew members are still missing after a Chinese ship sunk in waters about 390 kilometers off Shimane Prefecture in Japan on Tuesday, the Chinese Consulate-General in Osaka confirmed today.

The ship "LURONGYU2859" sunk off Japan's Shimane Prefecture at around 8 a.m. on Tuesday. Five crew members were immediately rescued but some nine others were still missing, sources said.

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The Japanese coastguard scrambled towards the site where the ship was thought to sink after Japanese authorities received a request from rescue from China's search and rescue center late Tuesday night, Xinhua reported.

The cause of the sinking has not been disclosed yet and further information, including where the ship was heading to and what type of cargoes it was carrying, was also not available as of this posting.

Local and international media are closely monitoring the development of the ship sinking considering that China and Japan are locked in a territorial dispute over a parcel of island in Japan that that China claims ownership of.

Japanese leaders also continue to irk the Chinese government by visiting a war memorial that commemorates the Japanese invasion of China.

On September 16, 12 sailors were rescued from a sinking vessel off Zhuhai Hebao Island in southern Guangdong Province.

The vessel, Shenjia 33, began to sink due to strong winds triggered by Typhoon Kalmaegi that made landfall in southern China on that day, the Chinese Ministry of Transport announced.

TagsChinese ship, ship sinking