SAPPORO: Ten people were confirmed dead Sunday after a tourist boat with a total of 26 passengers and crew aboard went missing in rough waters the previous day off a World Heritage site on Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido, the country's coast guard said.
Aircraft and vessels dispatched by the Japan Coast Guard and the Self-Defense Forces continued with rescue efforts following the 19-ton Kazu I losing contact after reporting it was taking on water around 1.15pm (11.15am Bangkok time) on Saturday. The 24 passengers aboard included two children.
Nine of the 10 people were found in the water or on nearby rocks around 10 kilometers from where the boat issued its first rescue call, according to the authorities.
The boat left port in the town of Shari around 10am on Saturday, and all were believed to be wearing life jackets.
The vessel, crewed by a 54-year-old captain and a 27-year-old deckhand, told its operator, Shiretoko Yuransen, it was tilting 30 degrees around 2pm before losing contact, according to the coast guard.
On Sunday, a group of people, apparently family members and acquaintances of the passengers, went to a town hall where an emergency headquarters was set up.
A man was heard shouting at the staff, "How are you handling the situation? I need information. Please do something as soon as possible."
A 61-year-old man who said he knows the captain of the boat prayed for his safety, saying, "I hope he comes back."
Fishing boats and tourist ships from the area joined the search in the morning, but some returned to port a few hours later because of strong wind.
"I hope they are all rescued, but I couldn't even find anything drifting (at sea)," said a 63-year-old captain of a tourist boat.
The incident occurred while the boat was in waters off Kashuni Falls, a popular scenic site near the tip of the Shiretoko Peninsula around 27 km northeast of the boat's home port.
Water temperatures in the area have been around 2C to 4C in recent days, and high waves and strong winds were observed around noon Saturday, according to the local fisheries cooperative. Its fishing boats returned to port before noon because of the bad weather, it said.
Ground, Maritime and Air self-defence forces have all dispatched aircraft to help with the search for the passengers and crew, with the MSDF also sending a destroyer.
According to the coast guard's regional station in Abashiri, the Kazu I ran aground last June in shallow water shortly after leaving port. No one was injured in the incident.
The peninsula in the northeast of Hokkaido is known as a popular destination for spotting drift ice and was designated as a World Natural Heritage site in 2005. It is a habitat for many rare species of animals and plants.
