Seoul, Oct 20 (IANS): A ship with nine crewmen capsized in waters off South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo (called Takeshima by Japan), Yonhap news agency reported on Wednesday citing the South Korean coast guard.

The coast guard was informed by Japanese authorities that the 72-tonne ship tipped over at about 2.24 p.m. local time (05.24 GMT) in international waters some 168 km northeast of the Dokdo islets, Xinhua news agency reported.

Crewmen aboard the vessel included four Chinese, two Indonesians and three South Koreans. The nine crewmen were still unaccounted for.

The coast guard reportedly dispatched two patrol ships and a helicopter for search operations.

The Chinese embassy in South Korea said it immediately activated emergency response.

The Chinese embassy urged the South Korean side to make every effort to carry out search operations, share the latest progress of the operations and provide relevant personal information of the Chinese crewmen as soon as possible.