REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, OSAKA -- Japanese coast guard on Wednesday evening announced that it called off search operations for missing Indonesian sailors off the coast of the western Japanese island of Shikoku.

The three Indonesian sailors went missing with four other Japanese and Indonesian crew members after their fishing boat No. 8 Kaisei-maru caught fire on Sunday in the sea area, about 410 kilometers off the coast of Kochi Prefecture on the island.

Along with nearby fishing boats, the 5th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters in Kobe City launched major search and rescue operations in the area, and the teams rescued one of the Indonesian sailors and recovered the bodies of three men, two Japanese and an Indonesian, on Monday evening.

But since then the operation effort is of no avail.

After the evening announcement, a spokesperson for the coast guard headquarters told Xinhua that since the possibility of finding anyone on board the damaged tuna fishing vessel from the sea area is small, the office decided to call off the extensive operations by sunset, adding that its teams continue search operation as patrolling the area on a regular basis.

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