THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
April 29, 2022 at 16:22 JST
The sunken sightseeing boat Kazu I was found off the Shiretoko Peninsula in Hokkaido on April 29 after three more bodies were recovered and another one was spotted by a Russian patrol vessel, sources said.
So far, 14 bodies have been retrieved since the pleasure boat sank after departing from Shari, Hokkaido, on April 23. The search and rescue mission is continuing for the 12 others who were onboard the boat.
The Japan Coast Guard said the tour boat, detected on April 28 by sonar used on a vessel involved in the search, was resting on the seabed about 120 meters deep. An underwater camera operated by the Maritime Self-Defense Force confirmed that “KAZU I” was written on the vessel.
The location was near the scenic Kashuni Falls on the western side of the peninsula near the spot where the Kazu I had made a distress call.
The three bodies found on April 28, all adult males, were retrieved from the sea on the other side of the Shiretoko Peninsula, near the town of Rausu, the Coast Guard’s Regional Maritime Safety Headquarters based in Otaru, Hokkaido, said.
An MSDF vessel picked up two of the bodies off the eastern coast of the peninsula after 4 p.m. on April 28 around 23.9 kilometers southeast of Cape Shiretoko, the coast guard said.
About an hour and 20 minutes later, a Hokkaido government vessel found the third body in the water nearby.
The three men were wearing life jackets.
It was the first time in four days for a missing person from the Kazu I to be found.
A local resident said currents flowing from the western side of the peninsula to the southeast side collide with currents moving from the eastern side toward the north.
A helicopter believed to be carrying the three bodies arrived at an athletic track field in Shari in the evening.
The coast guard said April 29 that the Russian border security authority on the evening of April 28 sent a fax to coast guard headquarters in Otaru.
“A Russian patrol vessel found a person adrift but could not pull out the (body) because of rough weather and then lost sight of the person.”
The location of the person, who was wearing a life jacket, was off the west coast of Russia-held Kunashiri Island, which is located east of the Shiretoko Peninsula, according to the coast guard.
The Russians did retrieve a backpack from the sea. The bag contained a bank card of a Kazu I passenger, whose body has already been recovered and identified, the coast guard said.
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The missing Kazu I pleasure boat is discovered on the seabed off the Shiretoko Peninsula in Hokkaido on April 29. (Provided by No. 1 Regional Maritime Safety Headquarters)
