The 1,915-ton Cambodia-registered Ming Guang was carrying scrap metal from the northern Japanese port of Hakodate to South Korea when it sprang a leak and began sinking late yesterday, a local coastguard official said.
"The crewmen abandoned the ship just before it sank," he added.
All 10 crew - two Bangladeshis, seven Chinese and one from Myanmar - were plucked from chilly waters in the strait separating Japan's main Honshu and northernmost Hokkaido islands.
The official said their nationalities were not immediately known.
