TOKYO (AFP) - A Japanese fisherman and his Indonesian crewmate died off western Japan after their boat collided with a cargo ship, Japan's coast guard said on Thursday.

Their oyster fishing ship, the 20-ton Shigeho-maru, collided with a 635-tonne vessel registered in Japan in the Seto Inland Sea near Hiroshima, the coast guard said.

Three of the oyster boat's crew - its Japanese skipper and two 24-year-old Indonesian men - were thrown into the water. One Indonesian was rescued but the two other men died.

The captain was named as Mr Tsutomu Nabara, 45. The name of the dead Indonesian was not immediately available in Roman script.

The Indonesian men were trainees working in Japan through the government's Industrial Trainee and Technical Internship Program (TTIP).

Through the scheme, tens of thousands of foreigners - mostly from China, Vietnam and Indonesia - come to a rapidly ageing Japan, supplying labour for industries including textiles, construction, farming and manufacturing.