The bodies of three crew members of a scallop farming ship were found floating in the sea in Aomori Prefecture, northeastern Japan, the coast guard said Thursday, with one other member and the ship still missing.
The Aomori Coast Guard Office was notified by a fisheries cooperative based in Yokohama on the Mutsu Bay that the four crew members aboard the Taka Maru had not returned to the town in a call at around 7:20 p.m., it said.
The ship left at around 3 p.m. for a scallop farm located several kilometers from the shore, but did not return in the evening, prompting the families of the missing crew to contact the cooperative, an official of the organization said.
According to the coast guard, the bodies of the three crew members were found in a search at around 9 p.m.
It added that the cooperative acknowledged no prior problems related to the ship or the crew members.
