Photo/Illutration The sunken Kazu I pleasure boat is transferred from Port Abashiri in Hokkaido to a nearby storage area on June 1. (Naoko Kawamura)

ABASHIRI, Hokkaido--The salvage operation of the Kazu I pleasure boat was completed on June 1 with the vessel safely unloaded and transported to a storage area at a port here, the Japan Coast Guard said.

The boat will be made available to the victim’s families later in the day, before a full-scale investigation of the deadly accident is launched.

The boat, wrapped in blue sheets, was hoisted from a salvage barge anchored at Abashiri Port with a large crane and loaded on a trailer in the morning.

The boat was then transported to a nearby storage area, about 500 meters from the port.

The boat was unloaded into an area enclosed with white fences.

The Coast Guard will allow family members of the 26 passengers and crew members, who were aboard the Kazu I on April 23, to see the boat and offer flowers in the afternoon.

The boat will be kept in the enclosure for some time to come.

Investigators will check the damage on the vessel and the state of the engine, among other items.

The boat went missing on April 23 and was found on the ocean floor, about 120 meters deep, on April 29.

The boat was lifted up to about 20 meters below the surface of the sea on May 23.

But while being towed by a salvage barge, it fell to the ocean floor about 180 meters deep off Port Utoro in Shari, Hokkaido, on May 24.

The boat was lifted on May 26 once again.

It was loaded onto the salvage barge on May 27 and moved to Port Abashiri.

The boat had remained on the barge since then, while investigators searched inside the vessel for clues to the cause of the accident.

Of the 26 passengers, 14 have been confirmed dead and 12 have remained unaccounted for.

During the three-day period until May 31, about 90 vessels, including private boats, joined an intensive search and rescue operation for the missing people.

The Otaru-based Regional Maritime Safety Headquarters said it will not ask the Self-Defense Forces and other related organizations to continue to be part of the search and rescue operation after June 1.

However, search efforts will continue, which are expected to be prolonged. Therefore, the headquarters has decided to downsize the effort to keep it sustainable.

In the meantime, The Asahi Shimbun has obtained records of four distress calls that the maritime safety headquarters in Otaru received from people concerned over the fate of the Kazu I on the day of the accident.

The first call was received at 1:13 p.m. via an amateur radio, and the caller said the boat “is about to sink” near the scenic Kashuni Falls.

A radio antenna at the operator of the boat, Shiretoko Pleasure Boat, was broken and could not be used at the time.

So another tour boat operator that was communicating with the Kazu I through a ham radio called the headquarters.

Five minutes later, the Kazu I called and said the boat’s “bow is flooded” and the boat “is sinking” and the “engine cannot be used.”

At 1:47 p.m., a person related to the Kazu I operator called, asking about the boat and urging a helicopter be dispatched to rescue the passengers.

At 2:16 p.m., a person related to the Kazu I operator called again and reported the number of passengers and that they “are wearing life jackets.”

A Japan Coast Guard helicopter arrived at the site at around 4:30 p.m., after returning from patrolling and taking on fuel. However, it could not locate the Kazu I. 

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