By TAKASHI OGAWA/ Staff Writer
May 10, 2022 at 16:56 JST
The missing passengers of the sunken tour boat Kazu I off Hokkaido may have drifted up to 50 to 60 kilometers from the site, according to an experts' simulation that may help locate them.
The Society of Water Rescue and Survival Research on May 9 released the results of the drifting simulation based on the sea wind and other conditions around the Shiretoko Peninsula.
The sightseeing boat carried 26 passengers and crew members, and 12 of them remain missing.
The society said it is possible that those who have not been found have drifted up to about 50 to 60 kilometers from the tip of the peninsula.
Naoyuki Inukai, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Nagaoka University of Technology who is a board member of the society, released the data.
Inukai said the society calculated how the current of the sea surface up to 5 meters below the surface traveled from the afternoon of April 23, when the accident occurred, until May 7.
Inukai said the sea surface is affected by the wind blowing from offshore over the sea to the land.
The calculation showed that the victims were initially likely cast adrift on the north side of the tip of the peninsula.
But they gradually separated and drifted to the east and west and eventually to the east side of the peninsula.
As of May 7, they had likely drifted as far as the west side of Kunashiri island, Inukai said.
There were strong currents at around 2 to 5 meters beneath the surface of the sea that carried the victims along unless they sank deep into the waters.
Inukai said the study used wind data released by the Japan Meteorological Agency.
Inukai said, “The results of the calculation are well matched with the locations where passengers have been found so far.”
“If the victims are still drifting beneath the surface, they are likely to be in the calculated area,” he said.
Inukai said the simulation will be shared with the Japan Coast Guard to help the ongoing search and rescue operation.
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An image shot by the remotely operated submersible Hakuyo on May 8 shows the sunken Kazu I tour boat. (Provided by the First Regional Coast Guard Headquarters)
