Ten people have died and sixteen are missing after a tourist boat sank in the freezing and choppy waters of northern Japan on Saturday, April 23, 2022, the Coast Guard said on Sunday.
“We confirm the deaths of all ten people” Found after the boat Kazu I sank, a Coast Guard spokesman told AFP, adding that the search for the missing person is ongoing.
The ten dead are three women and seven men.
“I told them not to come out”
Despite forecasts of inclement weather, the Kazu I set sail Saturday morning with 26 people on board to sail along one side of the Shiretoko Peninsula, a nature reserve northeast of the large northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.
“It was clear that the state of the sea was going to deteriorate and I told them not to go out.”the operator of another tourist boat told the public broadcaster NHK. “But they left anyway. »
Important research
The crew sent out a distress call at 1:13 p.m. local time (4:13 a.m. GMT, 6:13 a.m. Paris) and reported that the boat was sinking with a bow tilted 30 degrees.
The Coast Guard arrived at the scene three hours later and have since continued an intensive search.
The police, the Japan Self-Defense Forces (SDF) and local fishermen are also taking part in the operations, both by sea and by air.
Aerial footage from Japanese public broadcaster NHK showed a helicopter and patrol boats scouting the peninsula’s edge, and shore-based rescue workers searching a very rugged coastline with high waves crashing against large rocks.
Other Coast Guard footage showed rescue workers inspecting crevices on the shore and some items labeled “Kazu I” washing up on the shore.
Water at three degrees during the day
The boat was carrying two crew members and 24 passengers, including two children.
All wore life jackets. However, the waters in the region are currently very cold, with daily temperatures of just two to three degrees Celsius, and the coast is still icy in places.
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.
“The waves were expected to get higher and higher. I would not have gone into the sea under these conditions.”a person from the same local tourism industry told Kyodo Agency on Saturday.
damage last year
In June 2021, according to Japanese media, the Kazu I had already suffered damage during an excursion when it encountered shoals near its home port.
This incident had not injured anyone but sparked a police investigation into the boat’s captain for negligence.
The Shiretoko Peninsula is a major tourist attraction in Hokkaido. The natural site has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2005 for its remarkable terrestrial and marine ecosystems.
Tourist boat shipwreck in Japan: at least ten dead, sixteen passengers still missing EXPAND