Ten people have died and sixteen are missing in the sinking of a tourist boat that took place on Saturday in the freezing and choppy waters of northern Japan, the coastguard announced on Sunday. “We confirm the death of all ten people” found after the sinking of the boat Kazu I, told AFP a spokesman for the coastguard, adding that the search for the missing continues. The ten people who died are seven men and three women.
Despite a bad weather forecastthe Kazu I had set sail on Saturday morning with 26 people on board to skirt a side of the Shiretoko Peninsula, a preserved natural area northeast of the large northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. “It was clear that the state of the sea was going to get worse, and I told them not to go out”told the operator of another tourist boat to the public television channel NHK. “But they went anyway”.
The crew has sent a distress call at 1:13 p.m. local time (0413 GMT), reporting that the boat was sinking, with its bow tilted at 30 degrees. The Coast Guard only arrived on the scene after three hours and an intense search has been going on ever since. The police, Japan Self-Defense Forces (SDF) and local fishermen are also taking part in the operations, both sea and air.
Chilled and choppy water
The boat was carrying two crew members and 24 passengers, including two children. All were wearing life jackets. But the waters in the region are currently very cold, with a temperature of two, three degrees barely during the day, and the coast is still icy in places. The sea was also rough at the time of the accident: fishing boats in the vicinity had returned to port before Saturday noon due to high waves and strong wind, according to a local fishing cooperative quoted by the agency. of Japanese press Kyodo.
The Kazu I had already experienced damage during an excursion last June, hitting shallows near its home port, according to Japanese media. This incident had not injured anyone but had earned a police investigation targeting the captain of the boat for negligence. The Shiretoko Peninsula is an important tourist attraction in Hokkaido. The natural site has been classified since 2005 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its remarkable terrestrial and marine ecosystems.