Ten people were confirmed dead Sunday after a tourist boat with a total of 26 passengers and crew aboard went missing in rough waters the previous day of a World Heritage site on Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido, the country’s coast guard said.
Aircraft and vessels dispatched by the Japan Coast Guard and the Self-Defense Forces continued with rescue efforts following the 19-ton Kazu I losing contact after reporting it was taking on water around 1:15 p.m. Saturday. The 24 passengers aboard included two children.
Photo taken on April 24, 2022, from a Kyodo News helicopter shows search and rescue operations underway in the Sea of Okhotsk off Shiretoko Peninsula on the northernmost Japanese main island of Hokkaido as a tourist boat went missing with its over 20 passengers and crew in the area the previous day. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
Nine of the 10 people were found in the water or on nearby rocks around 10 kilometers from where the boat issued its first rescue call. The authorities are continuing to search for the remaining 16 people and the boat.
The boat left port in the town of Shari around 10 a.m. Saturday, and all were believed to be wearing life jackets.
The vessel crewed by a 54-year-old captain and a 27-year-old deckhand told its operator, Shiretoko Yuransen, it was tilting 30 degrees around 2 p.m. before losing contact, according to the coast guard.
On Sunday, a group of people, apparently family members and acquaintances of the passengers, went to a town hall where an emergency headquarters was set up.
A man was heard shouting at the staff, “How are you handling the situation? I need information. Please do something as soon as possible.”
A 61-year-old man who said he knows the captain of the boat prayed for his safety, saying, “I hope he comes back.”
Fishing boats and tourist ships from the area joined the search in the morning, but some returned to port a few hours later because of the strong wind.
“I hope they are all rescued, but I couldn’t even find anything drifting (at sea),” said a 63-year-old captain of a tourist boat.
The incident occurred while the Kazu I was in waters off Kashuni Falls, a popular scenic site near the tip of the Shiretoko Peninsula around 27 km northeast of the boat’s home port.
Water temperatures in the area have been around 2 C to 4 C in recent days, and high waves and strong winds were observed around noon Saturday, according to the local fisheries cooperative. Its fishing boats returned to port before noon because of the bad weather, it said.
The Kazu I was the first tourist boat to operate in the area this season. With wind and high surf advisories issued in the area on Saturday, a captain of another tourist boat operator said he advised the Kazu I crew not to leave port.
A local inn operator said the crew “could have decided to come back. They might have tried too hard because it’s tourism season.”
Japan will soon enter the Golden Week holidays through early May.
Ground, Maritime and Air self-defense forces have all dispatched aircraft to help with the search for the passengers and crew, with the MSDF also sending a destroyer.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the Kazu I collided with a floating object in May last year, injuring three passengers. The boat also ran aground in June in shallow water shortly after leaving port.
The ministry started an on-site inspection of the operator of the boat, while the Japan Transport Safety Board sent officials to a local coast guard office to investigate the incident.
The peninsula in the northeast of Hokkaido is known as a popular destination for spotting drift ice and was designated as a World Natural Heritage site in 2005. It is a habitat for many rare species of animals and plants.
Photo taken from Shiretoko Pleasure Boat's website shows tourist boat Kazu I. (Kyodo)
Photo taken on April 24, 2022, from a Kyodo News helicopter shows the Sea of Okhotsk off Shiretoko Peninsula on the northernmost Japanese main island of Hokkaido. Search and rescue operations are underway for a tourist boat that went missing with its over 20 passengers and crew in the area the previous day. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
