Ships and aircraft continue the search April 30 for possible survivors of a pleasure boat that sank April 23 off the Shiretoko Peninsula in eastern Hokkaido. (Video footage by Masahiro Hirano)

Photo/Illutration The sunken Kazu I pleasure boat appears at the center of this bathymetric chart released on April 30. (Provided by the First Regional Coast Guard Headquarters)

Search efforts continued April 30 in the frigid waters off eastern Hokkaido for missing passengers and crew of a pleasure boat that sank the previous weekend while underwater cameras were deployed to scan the vessel lying on the seabed.

Fourteen bodies have been recovered since the Kazu I went missing off the spectacular Shiretoko Peninsula on April 23. Twelve people remain unaccounted for.

The Japan Coast Guard and Maritime Self-Defense Force used underwater cameras to peer through the boat windows and doors in an attempt to determine if any bodies were trapped there.

The boat was found April 29 resting about 120 meters below the surface.

The Coast Guard and MSDF deployed nine ships and eight aircraft to the area to search for possible survivors. In addition, 20 private-sector boats from Shari and Rausu on opposite sides of the Shiretoko Peninsula were helping out in the effort, which was hampered by high waves and strong winds.

In the meantime, the First Regional Coast Guard Headquarters based in Otaru, Hokkaido, released data April 30 on seabed conditions in the area where the vessel was found. The data was gathered the previous day by the Coast Guard’s hydrographic survey ship Tenyo.

The Kazu I fell to the seabed in an east-west direction about 1 kilometer west of the scenic Kashuni Falls. Coast Guard officials said the area where the Kazu I was found was relatively flat.

However, the survey was unable to uncover if any damage was done to the boat, meaning investigators are still nowhere near to determining the cause of the sinking.

The captain of the boat said in a distress call that his craft was taking on water.

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