Cargo ship navigator arrested after deadly collision in central Japan

The Japanese Coast Guard on Saturday arrested "for professional negligence" the navigator of a cargo ship, which collided with a fishing boat in central Japan on Friday afternoon and left two people dead, local media reported.

Hanon Sugimoto, 21, was at the helm of the 499-ton, 71-meter (233-foot) cargo vessel at the time of the collision, the Tokyo-based Kyodo News reported, citing the Coast Guard office in the Toba city of the Mie prefecture.

She was alone on the bridge when the vessel with a crew of six, which was heading to the western Japanese city of Kurashiki without any cargo, hit the side of the 16-ton fishing boat that was anchored with 13 people aboard, the report said.

Two men on the fishing boat, aged 84 and 67, drowned, while its captain and 10 other passengers sustained injuries.