The first four people were located after 5 a.m. Japan time and transported unconscious for medical treatment, a Coast Guard spokesman said. Five other people were spotted later in the morning, said a Coast Guard statement, which did not mention their medical conditions.
Despite forecasts of inclement weather, the “Kazu I” set sail on Saturday morning to sail along part of the Shiretoko Peninsula, a nature reserve in the northeast of the large northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.
Rough seas, two children on board
At 1:13 p.m. local time, the crew made a distress call and reported that the boat was sinking with a bow tilted by 30 degrees. The Coast Guard arrived at the scene three hours later and the search has been ongoing ever since. The police, the Japan Self-Defense Forces (SDF) and local fishermen are also taking part in the operations, both by sea and by air.
The Kazu I carried two crew members and 24 passengers, including two children. Everyone was wearing life jackets, but the water in the area is very cold at the moment, with daytime temperatures of just two or three degrees.
The sea was also rough at the time of the accident: nearby fishing boats had returned to port before Saturday noon due to high waves and strong winds, according to a local fishing cooperative, quoted by the Japanese press agency Kyodo.