The company that operated the Kazu I sightseeing boat that sank off the Shiretoko Peninsula in Hokkaido with 26 people aboard was using a ham radio -- instead of a professional radio as called for by its own safety manual -- to communicate with the ship, and the operator had received administrative directives from the transport ministry in the past, it was learned Monday.
It was also found that a satellite phone, intended for use as another means of communication, was out of order at the time of the accident.
