A rescue source in the Russian Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk city on the Sakhalin Island said that deteriorating weather conditions had prompted the captain to leave the port. But after discovering that water had started flooding the engine room, "The captain made the decision to run the ship aground to prevent a collision. The vessel was in no danger of sinking."
The ship ran aground at 4:00 a.m. local time (7:00 p.m. GMT), and was rescued by a Japanese coastguard helicopter and a vessel five hours later, the Japanese NHK television channel said. All the 17 crew are safe and in good health.
The freighter, which belongs to the Sakhalinmortrans shipment company, was transporting coal from Russia's Sakhalin Island to a Japanese power station in the Fukushima prefecture.
