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Hokkaido Boat Operator Head Nabbed over 2022 Fatal Sinking

Hokkaido Boat Operator Head Nabbed over 2022 Fatal Sinking

   Tokyo, Sept. 18 (Jiji Press)--Japanese coast guard authorities arrested Wednesday the president of a tour boat operator over a high-profile sinking incident in 2022 that left 20 of the 26 people aboard dead and the six others missing.
   Arrested by the Abashiri coast guard station in Hokkaido on allegations including professional negligence resulting in death was Seiichi Katsurada, the 61-year-old president of Shiretoko Yuransen, based in the town of Shari in the northernmost Japan prefecture.
   Katsurada allegedly neglected his duty to ensure the safety of the passengers and crew members of the Kazu I tour boat as the person in charge of the vessel's operation when the boat went on a tour around the Shiretoko Peninsula in eastern Hokkaido on April 23, 2022, causing the ship to sink and the 26 people aboard to die as a result.
   The accident occurred off a waterfall section on the southwestern part of the peninsula. The Kazu I lost contact after one of the passengers spoke with a relative over the phone around 1:26 p.m. that day during the tour. The ship is believed to have gone down in a short time after that.
   In a final investigation report on the accident released in September 2023, the Japan Transport Safety Board, affiliated with the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry, said that a large amount of seawater gushed into the Kazu I through a hatch on its deck that opened due to a shaking of the boat, leading the vessel to sink.

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AFP-JIJI PRESS NEWS JOURNAL


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