Japanese Destroyer Hits South Korean Ship

October 28, 2009

By HIROKO TABUCHI

TOKYO — A Japanese navy destroyer collided with a South Korean freighter in the waters off southern Japan on Tuesday, setting off fires on both boats and injuring three crew members.

The collision was the second in less than two years involving a Japanese navy ship and a commercial vessel. Last year, another Japanese destroyer smashed into a fishing boat off eastern Japan, killing two fishermen in an accident blamed on poor surveillance and steering by the destroyer’s crew.

Japan’s defense minister, Toshimi Kitazawa, swiftly called a news conference to apologize for the accident and said the government would investigate.

“It is extremely regrettable that the destroyer, Kurama, has been in a collision, causing everyone concern and inconvenience,” Mr. Kitazawa told reporters. “We will quickly find out what caused the accident.”

The 5,200-ton Kurama was traveling through a narrow strip of water between two of Japan’s four main islands — a major shipping route — when it struck the container vessel, the Carina Star, according to Japan’s Defense Ministry.

Televised images from the scene showed a burst of yellow flames rising from the destroyer’s bow. A crew member on the destroyer sustained minor burns, and two more were being treated for smoke inhalation, the ministry said. There was damage to freight but no casualties on the South Korean freighter, which was traveling from the South Korean port of Pusan to Osaka in western Japan.

Firefighters had extinguished the fire on the freighter by late Tuesday, and the flames were largely under control on the Kurama, which had about 150 on board. It had been on its way to its home port of on the island of Kyushu after participating in a naval review on Sunday off Yokosuka, southwest of Tokyo, where it was boarded by the deputy prime minister, Naoto Kan.

In the accident last year, the destroyer Atago struck and sunk a tuna trawler off Japan’s eastern coast in February, killing two and triggering a public outcry. The navy chief of staff was fired and two officers were charged with professional negligence after the collision, which a government investigation blamed on poor surveillance and flawed teamwork by night-duty officers.

Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company