Cargo ship sinks off Japan, leaving two dead, nine missing

TOKYO: Two people died and nine were missing after a cargo ship sank off southwestern Japan early on Wednesday amid fierce winter winds, the coast guard said, as it continued to search for survivors.Six people who were rescued remained unconscious, while five had revived as of 8:30 p.m. local time (1130 GMT), the Japan Coast Guard said, partly citing information from its South Korean counterpart.The 6,651-tonne Hong Kong-registered “Jintian” - which had 22 crew on board who were Chinese or Myanmar nationals according to media reports - issued a distress call late on Tuesday, the Japanese coast guard said.The area where the ship sank is between Nagasaki and South Korea’s Jeju island, where hundreds of flights were cancelled on Tuesday because of harsh weather.Media reports cited a person who had been on the ship as saying it had listed and took on water, and that all the crew had been transferred to lifeboats.There was no immediate word on what caused the vessel to capsize. A coast guar