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.