Two Taiwan sailors have gone missing after their fishing boat collided with another ship in waters off the Diaoyu Islands early Friday morning, local media reported.

Thirteen crew members were on board the ship when it was involved in the collision at around 2:05 a.m., and the boat's captain is one of the missing, Kyodo News quoted a local branch of the Japan Coast Guard as saying.

The report did not say what country or region the other ship involved in the collision belongs to.

China claims sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands and adjacent islets, saying they had been Chinese territories since ancient times. The uninhabited islets in the East China Sea are also claimed by Japan.

(Xinhua News Agency April 17, 2009)