Thirteen people have been washed overboard after a freighter caught fire and ran aground in stormy weather off eastern Japan, officials said.
Of the 13, an Indian man was found washed ashore and later died, coastguard official Shu Sasaki said. Two other Indians were rescued and were being given medical treatment, while 10 others remained missing.
Thirteen crew members were still trapped aboard the freighter, the Panamanian-registered Giant Step, which was badly damaged and stranded about a mile off Kashima port in east Japan.
Rescue boats could not get near the ship, however, because of heavy winds and rain. Eastern Japan has been hit by stormy weather from tropical storms Babinca and Rumbia in the Pacific Ocean.
Rescuers were searching the coast for the missing and were in touch with those left on the freighter, Sasaki said. He denied an earlier report by Kyodo News agency that two more crew members had been found washed ashore.
Fire broke out in the cabin area of the 98,587-ton freighter on Thursday while it was heading to Kashima from Australia, according to the coastguard. The cause of the fire is still unclear.
The ship had initially told Japanese authorities that none of its 26-member crew - 25 Indians and one Sri Lankan - was injured.
Kashima is 60 miles east of Tokyo.
