Six Russians missing after fire on ship in Japan

TOKYO (AFP) - Six Russian crew members were missing on Thursday after a fire broke out aboard a cargo ship anchored in a Japanese port, the coastguard said.

Fire took hold of the 497-tonne Cambodian-registered freighter, Taigan, which has been in the port of Wakkanai in northern Japan since Tuesday, said an official at the local coastguard office.

There were a total of 23 Russian and Ukrainian crew members on the ship, which had transported crabs from a Sakhalin port, he said.

"Of the 23, six people are still unaccounted for," the official said, adding that two were hospitalised for burns but neither was in a life-threatening condition.

The fire was still ablaze more than 10 hours after it broke out, he added.

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