TOKYO – One person died and 24 others were rescued on March 4 after their fishing boat lost power and drifted onto rocks in rough seas off Japan, the coast guard said.

Dramatic television footage showed the 56m vessel on its side being pounded by waves as the crew huddled on deck and a helicopter hovered overhead.

The tuna fishing ship’s crew included five Japanese nationals and 20 Indonesians.

The vessel had engine trouble on the afternoon of March 3 off the Izu archipelago, south of Japan’s main island of Honshu, a coast guard spokesman said.

In an operation involving patrol boats and helicopters, all but one of the crew members had been rescued by the morning of March 4, he said.

The body of the missing Japanese crew member was later found, the coast guard said. AFP