Ship carrying nickel sinks

Ship carrying nickel sinks

TORONTO (AFP): Inco, one of the world's major nickel producers, said Tuesday that a ship carrying 2,200 tonnes of its nickel in matte, worth some US$13 million, sank in stormy seas off the Japanese coast over the weekend.

The Panamanian-registered vessel, White Koowa, which was transporting nickel produced in Soroako, Indonesia by its subsidiary PT Inco, went down late Sunday before reaching Japan, the company said in a statement.

Japan's coast guard said earlier Tuesday that eight of White Koowa's 14 member crew had drowned, five were rescued and one Filipino was still missing.

The crew was mostly Filipino, except for two Japanese men, who were among the dead.

The ship was owned by the Japanese company Hakuyo Line.

A search and rescue team was mobilized to search for the missing in the Pacific Ocean off Cape Muroto, 600 kilometers (370 miles) southwest of Tokyo, where the ship went down in high seas.

"It is not immediately clear whether the lost nickel is recoverable," the company said.