Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba tried Tuesday to contain the political fallout over fresh allegations that his ministry tried to cover up key information concerning the Feb. 19 collision of a warship and a trawler off Chiba Prefecture.

Ministry officials revealed that Ishiba first received a report from subordinates around 8:30 p.m that day that the destroyer Atago first recognized a light apparently belonging to the trawler Seitoku Maru at 3:55 a.m., 12 minutes before the warship ran over the fishing boat at 4:07 a.m., cutting the vessel in two and sending its wheelhouse to the bottom.

The boat's father-son crew remain missing.