TOKYO, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- The navigator of a cargo ship that collided with a sport fishing boat in central Japan and left two people dead was arrested on Saturday for professional negligence, local media reported.

Hanon Sugimoto, 21, has admitted that she was at the helm of the cargo vessel at the time of the collision in waters off Toba, Mie Prefecture, on Friday afternoon, Kyodo News reported, citing the local coast guard office.

She was alone on the bridge when the 499-tonne, 71-meter vessel with a crew of six, which was heading to the western Japan city of Kurashiki without any cargo, struck the right side of the 16-tonne, 15-meter fishing boat that was anchored with 13 people aboard, the report said.

An 84-year-old man and a 67-year-old man on the fishing boat, which split into two in the accident, drowned, while its captain and the 10 other passengers sustained injuries. ■