He also recommended taking as the visibility was not so good, and departed the bridge. At about 13:20 hours he left the vessel at a position about 350°270 m from Kisarazu Port Entrance No.2 light buoy. At the time, the Master of the "Pacific Ares" and three other persons, namely, the Second Officer, the Third Officer and a helmsman, were on the bridge, with the Chief Officer and another person stationed at the fore.
Slightly past 13:29 hours, the Master of the "Pacific Ares" was in a position to observe the "Yuyo Maru No. 10" about 53｡?n her port bow 2 miles off, and his continued sailing without taking any action would place him in a situation to cross ahead of the "Yuyo Maru No.10" at a position only 200 m north of the north border of the Naka-no Se Traffic Route. However, he did not take any evasive action: either altering her course to starboard to make a detour sufficiently away from the north boundary of the same traffic route, or stopping the engine to wait until the "Yuyo Maru No, 10" passed clear of her.
Both vessels approached closer to each other without any apparent change in compass bearings of either, and the Master of the "Pacific Ares" continued sailing without taking any evasive action either because he did not notice the approach of the "Yuyo Maru No.10" as a result of his poor lookout or, while he was aware of the coming vessel by radar or by eyesight, he judged that his vessel was a stand-on one in compliance with the steering rule in a crossing situation. About 13:36 hours when the "Yuyo Maru No.10" drew very close to his vessel, he ordered "Full astern engine" and then "Hard starboard". Immediately after the astern engine took effect, they collided as described above.
The collision caused the "Yuyo Maru No.10" to suffer a large hole in the starboard shell plating aft of the reserve tank, immediately igniting naphtha as her cargo. Flames veiled with black smoke erupting high up, generating literally a sea of fire on the sea surface on her starboard side. The fire also spread to the forecastle, upper deck and to the bridge of the "Pacific Ares".
Observing flames erupting up, the Master of the "Yuyo Maru No.10" had the Third Officer and the Junior Third Officer, examinees, open the valve of the carbon dioxide gas fire extinguishing system and requested the "Orion" to notify the Maritime Safety Agency. Soon after that he ordered all crew members to abandon ship and some of them jumped into the sea while others boarded the port lifeboat, the "Orion" or a patrol boat to escape to safety. Of 38 crew members, 33 persons, including seven who suffered burns and contusions, were rescued but five drowned.
While she was drifting a flame in the vicinity of Naka-no Se, the "Yuyo Maru No. 10" went aground off No. 4 light buoy on its traffic route. She continued to burn, repeating explosions thereafter. The Director General, Third Regional Maritime Safety Headquarters, issued an order to remove her in compliance with the Maritime Traffic Safety Law, Article 33, and she was towed out of Tokyo Bay where she was subjected to attacks of cannon fire, bombs and torpedoes staged by a naval ship and air craft of the Maritime Self-Defense Force. She sank south of Nojima Saki around 18:47 hours on November 28, 1974.
