(FeaturedNews.com) – A Japanese tour boat captain ignored warnings about severe weather and took 24 passengers along with 2 crewmembers to their likely deaths. His boat, the Kazu 1, sank off the island of Hokkaido in near-freezing waters. Because of the storm the captain ignored, there were no boats in the area to help. The Japanese Coast Guard arrived three hours later.
So far, the seamen recovered 11 bodies, including a 3-year-old little girl. There’s not much hope of finding anyone alive in the frigid water after the first six hours of intense searching. The bodies were approximately 14 kilometers from the original location of the distress call. They located some people in the water and others on the rocky shore.
Rescuers searching since a tour boat carrying 26 people sank off far northeastern Japan have found the body of an 11th victim – a child. https://t.co/GcnlhhzJvB
— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 25, 2022
The boat’s owner, Shiretoko Pleasure Cruise, is no stranger to dangerous accidents and safety concerns. The same boat that sank and the same captain ran aground once before, causing a crack in the hull. Another Shiretoko boat hit an object in May of last year, causing injuries to three passengers.
According to CBS News, Japanese Transport Minister Tetsuo Saito said the government would perform a full investigation not only into what happened at sea but also into why a vessel would have set sail in bad conditions.
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