TOKYO, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- The body of a missing cargo ship captain was found Monday following the vessel's collision with a freighter last week off the western prefecture of Ehime, the Japan Coast Guard said.
The dead body of the 63-year-old captain, Sosuke Kitai, was found in the wheelhouse of the ship that had sunk 57 meters to the bottom of the sea, the Imabari coast guard officials said.
The coast guard said that search and rescue operations are still underway, however, for a 24-year-old crew member who remains unaccounted for from the 716-ton Seiryu in the wake of the collision that occurred last Thursday evening.
Three of the sunken Seiryu's crew members have already been rescued, the coast guard previously said.
The four crew members of the smaller, 499-ton Koei Maru, meanwhile, were all unhurt in the incident, according to the coast guard.
The cause of the collision may have been a result of endangerment of traffic caused by professional negligence, according to sources with knowledge of the matter. ■