Video footage taken on July 24 shows a ferry being towed by a tugboat after losing control and going adrift in waters off Chiba Prefecture. (Kazuhiro Ichikawa)

Photo/Illutration A Japan Coast Guard patrol vessel, left, approaches a drifting hydrofoil ferry off Chiba Prefecture on July 24. The ferry was later towed to port by a larger Coast Guard ship. (Tatsuya Shimada)

All 116 passengers were rescued from a high-speed ferry that broke down and drifted for nearly 20 hours off Japan’s eastern coast.

A Japan Coast Guard ship towed the stricken vessel to a nearby island in the early hours of July 25.

The passengers included four infants. There were no injuries, although three people reported feeling unwell, ferry operator Tokai Kisen said.

The high-speed ferry, Seven Islands Ai, was bound for Shikinejima island off Tokyo when the crew experienced a loss of control.

The captain reported an oil leak and steering failure southwest of Cape Nojimazaki, Chiba Prefecture, at around 10 a.m. on July 24, the Coast Guard said.

The vessel departed from Takeshiba Pier in Tokyo at 7:45 a.m. It was scheduled to arrive at Shikinejima island at 10:05 a.m. and Niijima island at 10:25 a.m. Both destinations are around 150 kilometers south of Tokyo.

The Coast Guard vessel towed the hydrofoil to Okada Port on Izu-Oshima island, arriving at around 5:40 a.m. on July 25.

Tokai Kisen provided hotel accommodations for the disembarked passengers to rest.

It arranged their onward passage in a replacement vessel, departing at 9:30 a.m.

But passengers who wished to return to Tokyo were offered the option to do so, aboard a regular ferry scheduled to depart at 11:30 a.m.

(This article was compiled from reports by staff writers Junji Murakami, Takuro Negishi and Kazufumi Kaneko.)

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