Photo/Illutration An image taken with an underwater camera by the Hokkaido prefectural police shows what are believed to be electric wires dangling from the ceiling inside the passenger cabin of the Kazu I tour boat that sank off the Shiretoko Peninsula in eastern Hokkaido on April 23. (Provided by the Japan Coast Guard)

The Japan Coast Guard on May 4 released underwater images of the interior of a tour boat that sank off eastern Hokkaido with 26 people on board as investigators questioned the operator on suspected breaches of safety management.

The 10 images taken with an underwater camera by Hokkaido prefectural police on May 3 offered no new clues into the April 23 tragedy, however.

The May 4 questioning of Seiichi Katsurada, the president of the Shiretoko Pleasure Boat company in Shari, eastern Hokkaido, was conducted on a voluntary basis by the Coast Guard’s first regional headquarters, which is based in the Hokkaido port city of Otaru, sources said.

Earlier in the week, investigators searched the company’s offices and other relevant locations for evidence that Katsurada and Noriyuki Toyoda, the missing captain of the stricken Kazu I boat, were professionally negligent resulting in deaths.

The vessel sank off the scenic Shiretoko Peninsula on April 23 after taking on water in stormy weather. Of the 26 people aboard, including Toyoda and another crew member, 14 bodies have been recovered to date. The other 12 remain missing.

Officials said the underwater camera peered inside the boat at 5:17 p.m. after entering the hull through a sliding door on the port side.

The vessel lies tilted at a 30-degree angle on its starboard side 120 meters below the sea surface, according to the regional headquarters.

The footage was of the passenger cabin and pilothouse, said Coast Guard officials who noticed at least two orange life jackets near one of the interior doors.

The footage also captured three-seater benches without cushions and dangling electric wires after parts of the ceiling collapsed.

No signs of missing people were detected in the footage.

The authorities plan to continue the search with an underwater vehicle that can be remotely operated.

A private-sector vessel with such capability is heading to the site and is expected to shortly reach Abashiri Port, which is close to the area where the Kazu I set out.

After the Kazu I was located April 29, the Coast Guard, along with the Hokkaido prefectural police and Maritime Self-Defense Force personnel, began searching the area with underwater cameras in hopes of finding some of the missing people.

But no new clues emerged as to their whereabouts.

Coast Guard officials disclosed May 5 that the underwater camera deployed in the search got trapped inside the boat and could not be recovered.

The vehicle carrying the camera was connected to a Hokkaido prefectural police vessel with a cable so it could be operated remotely.

But for some reason, the device stopped moving after taking footage of the boat’s interior on May 3, forcing the operator to sever the cable.

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The Asahi Shimbun

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