Japan finds wreck of boat missing after accident that killed 14

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FILE PHOTO: A helicopter searches for missing people onboard the tour boat “Kazu 1” that went missing off the Shiretoko Peninsula in Shari, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan in this photo taken by Kyodo on April 25, 2022. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan located on Friday the hull of a tour boat off its northern coast, the coast guard said, six days after the vessel disappeared in an accident that killed at least 14 people on a sightseeing trip.

The hull of the โ€œKazu Iโ€ was found on the seabed at a depth of about 120 metres (390 ft) off the northern island of Hokkaido in pitch-dark waters shown in footage from an underwater camera of the Maritime Self Defence Force, the coast guard said.

The boat went missing on Saturday several hours after departing for a tour of the peninsula, famed for its rugged coastal scenery and wildlife.

The 26 aboard included two children and two crew. Fourteen were found dead, a coast guard official told Reuters, with the rest unaccounted for.

The coast guard said a Russian guard ship lost sight of someone wearing a life jacket who was adrift at sea in waters west of an island Japan refers to as Kunashiri on Wednesday afternoon.

Kunashiri, known in Russian as Kunashir, is one of four islands north of Hokkaido that are at the centre of a territorial row between Tokyo and Moscow, after the Soviet Union seized them at the end of World War Two.

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