TOKYO: A cargo ship carrying 43 crew and about 6,000 cows sank at sea after transmitting a distress signal during a typhoon off Japan, according to a survivor rescued by the country's coast guard.

The Gulf Livestock 1 issued a distress call in the early hours of Wednesday from a position 185 kilometres (115 miles) west of Japan's Amami Oshima island.

Late Wednesday, coast guard rescuers located one survivor, a man identified as a 45-year-old Filipino chief officer, who said he had put on a life jacket and dived into the sea after a warning announcement on board.

He said one of the boat's engines had stalled and a wave then overturned the ship, which later sank, the coast guard said in a statement.

There were no details on when and where the ship sank, but the man said he had not seen other crew members while waiting to be rescued.