Three crew members are missing after a freighter sank in a Japanese strait following a collision with another ship.

Nine of the 12 crew members from the Japanese freighter have been rescued, and the coast guard is searching for others in waters roughly 2.5 miles north of the coast of Imabari in Ehime prefecture.

The Byakko was in collision with a chemical tanker operated by a South Korean company on Thursday night, causing the Byakko to sink.

The Ulsan Pioneer tanker was run by South Korean firm Heung-A Shipping with 13 crew members, including Korean and Myanmar nationals, the coast guard said.

It departed a port in China on Tuesday for Osaka, Japan, conveying acetic acid.

None of the Ulsan Pioneer’s crew members were injured.

The Byakko was operated by Kobe-based Prince Kaiun and was carrying car parts overnight to Kanda, a town in Fukuoka prefecture.

On average, around 400 vessels a day pass through the Kurushima Strait in southern Japan where the collision occurred.