Coast guard officials searched the office of a Japanese tour boat operator Monday as part of a criminal investigation into suspicions that professional negligence caused the sinking of a vessel carrying 26 people in a national park last month.
The Kazu 1 sightseeing boat started the tour in Shiretoko National Park on the northeastern side of Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost main island, on April 23 despite forecast rough seas and warnings from other tour operators. It made a distress call that afternoon saying it was sinking.
The Japanese coast guard said investigators were raiding unidentified locations related to the tour boat operator. Footage on NHK public television showed uniformed coast guard officials entering the tour boat operator’s office and the house of the sunken boat’s captain.
Separately, the coast guard plans to use a remote-controlled submersible camera to look inside of the sunken boat in hopes of finding bodies possibly trapped inside. The operation was delayed Monday due to bad weather.
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