An unidentified ship being pursued by the Japan Coast Guard in the East China Sea for infringing in Japan's exclusive economic zone sank Saturday night after being fired on by two coast guard patrol vessels, Kyodo News reported.

After a final shoot-out between coast guard officials and the ship's crew, the 100-ton vessel foundered at 10:13 p.m. local time some 390 kilometers northwest of the Kagoshima Prefecture, throwing about 15 crew members into the sea, the report said.

Two Japanese coast guard members aboard the patrol vessel Amami were injured in the shoot-out, it said.

On Sunday, the Japan Coast Guard recovered two bodies believed to be those of crew members of the ship. The red life jacket on one of the bodies bore Korean characters, coast guard officials said.

FM Spokeswoman on Japan Sinking Unidentified Boat

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue briefed reporters Sunday on the incident that the patrol vessels of the Japanese Maritime Safety Agency chased and fired at an unidentified ship, which traded shots with the Japanese vessels and later sank in the East China Sea.

Zhang said that China has kept close watch on the incident. Local administrations have verified that the sunk boat is not a Chinese one and its sinking spot is some 260 kilometers off China's territorial sea.

She said that the Chinese side was concerned about Japan's employing military force in the waters of the East China Sea, and sorry for the dead and wounded in the incident.

At present, China is asking the Japanese side to provide further information about the incident.

(People's Daily December 24, 2001)