A Japanese fishing boat has capsized off the Pacific coast in eastern Japan. Two of 20 people onboard are dead and three others remain unaccounted for.

Japan Coast Guard officials say they received a report shortly after 2 a.m. on Monday that a round haul netter appeared to have capsized about 30 kilometers east of Kashima port, Ibaraki Prefecture.

Twenty people, including Japanese and Indonesian nationals, were onboard the Daihachi Ohamamaru. Three of them were thrown into the sea and remain unaccounted for.

Seventeen others were rescued and two of them who are Japanese have died.

The vessel headed to sea to catch sardines. It is believed to have sunk after it overturned.