4 people from missing tour boat in Japan found
- Japanese coastguard said four of the missing people had been found, but said it could not confirm whether they were rescued alive
- Contact was lost after the crew reported the Kazu 1 had started to sink off the northern island of Hokkaido on Saturday; there were two children on board
A tour boat with 26 people aboard was missing in the frigid waters of northern Japan on Saturday, hours after sending a distress call that it was sinking, the coastguard said.
The Japanese coastguard said on Sunday that four of the missing people had been found near the tip of Shiretoko Peninsula, but said it could not confirm whether they were rescued alive.
The 19-ton Kazu 1 made an emergency call in the early afternoon, saying the ship’s bow had flooded and it was beginning to sink and tilt while travelling off the western coast of Shiretoko Peninsula in the northern island of Hokkaido, the coastguard said.
The tour boat has since lost contact, according to the coastguard. It said the boat was carrying 24 passengers, including two children, and two crew members.
Average April sea temperatures in Shiretoko National Park are just above freezing.
An official of the vessel’s operator, Shiretoko Pleasure Cruise, said he could not comment as he had to respond to calls from worried families of the passengers.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who was attending a two-day water summit in Kumamoto in southern Japan, was cancelling his programme for Sunday and was set to return to Tokyo to deal with the missing boat, public broadcaster NHK reported.