HOKKAIDO –
Newly recovered video from a passenger’s digital digital camera has revealed circumstances aboard the Kazu I sightseeing boat earlier than it sank off Hokkaido’s Shiretoko Peninsula in April 2022, a catastrophe that left 20 passengers and crew members useless and 6 passengers nonetheless lacking greater than 4 years later.
It was discovered on September 11 that 10 pictures and 10 movies had been newly recovered from the digital camera belonging to a 34-year-old male passenger from Chiba Prefecture who stays among the many lacking.
The man’s mother and father, by means of their lawyer, launched one of many movies exhibiting the vessel’s inside shaking and tough seas earlier than the accident. His father described the restoration as “a miracle born from our son’s determination.”
The roughly three-minute video was recorded at 11:53 a.m. on April 23, 2022, about two hours after the Kazu I left Utoro Fishing Port and roughly an hour and a half earlier than it sank.
The footage reveals a grey sea lined with whitecaps and an air air purifier contained in the vessel swaying closely because the boat strikes. Audio resembling the sound of a kid crying was additionally recorded.
The photos present a brand new glimpse into one in every of Japan’s worst maritime disasters lately, an accident that subsequently uncovered severe failures within the tour operator’s security administration in addition to shortcomings in authorities supervision and vessel inspections.
The Kazu I used to be operated by Shiretoko Yuransen and carried 24 passengers, Captain Noriyuki Toyoda and one deckhand. Among the passengers had been two youngsters.
The vessel departed Utoro Fishing Port at round 10 a.m. on April 23 for a three-hour sightseeing cruise alongside the western coast of the Shiretoko Peninsula, a World Natural Heritage web site recognized for its steep cliffs, waterfalls and wildlife.
Its deliberate route took it north towards Cape Shiretoko earlier than returning to Utoro.
Weather and sea circumstances, nonetheless, had been anticipated to deteriorate as a chilly entrance handed by means of the realm. The Japan Transport Safety Board later concluded that the vessel left port regardless of the prospect that circumstances may attain the corporate’s personal standards for suspending operations. People acquainted with native circumstances had additionally warned in regards to the worsening climate.
The Kazu I reached the neighborhood of Cape Shiretoko and circled at about 11:47 a.m. The newly recovered video was filmed solely minutes later.
On its outward journey, the vessel had traveled at round 17 knots, however more and more excessive waves slowed it considerably on the return journey. The Japan Transport Safety Board discovered that waves multiple meter excessive had been placing the bow as circumstances deteriorated.
Investigators concluded {that a} hatch cowl on the foredeck had not been securely closed when the vessel departed Utoro.
As the vessel pitched and rolled within the worsening sea, the hatch opened and seawater started coming into the bow compartment.
The flooding then unfold by means of openings in inside bulkheads right into a storage space, the engine room and the steering gear compartment. Unlike correctly watertight sections that might have contained the flooding, the compartments under the higher deck had been linked by openings that allowed seawater to unfold by means of the vessel.
Eventually, seawater reached digital parts related to the principle engine, inflicting the engine to cease.
At round 1:07 p.m., the captain contacted the working firm. At round 1:13 p.m., the vessel reported that it was taking over water, that its engine had stopped and that its bow was sinking, and requested rescue.
The Japan Coast Guard was contacted at round 1:18 p.m. The vessel’s place was reported as close to Kashuni Falls on the western aspect of the peninsula.
By round 1:21 p.m., the bow was flooding and the vessel was starting to sink. The Japan Transport Safety Board concluded that the Kazu I sank inside a brief interval after 1:26 p.m.
There had been no survivors.
Search operations involving the Japan Coast Guard, Self-Defense Forces, police and native fishing vessels continued over an intensive space. Bodies had been subsequently recovered from waters round Shiretoko and farther north, together with areas close to Russian-controlled islands as currents carried victims away from the accident web site.
Twenty of the 26 folks aboard have since been confirmed useless. Six passengers stay lacking.
The extraordinarily chilly water made survival notably tough. The Japan Transport Safety Board estimated the seawater temperature at about 4 levels Celsius and concluded that, with the lifesaving tools out there on the Kazu I, the chance of rescuing passengers alive after they entered the water was extraordinarily low until help arrived virtually instantly.
The accident additionally raised questions over why the vessel had been allowed to go away port in deteriorating climate.
Investigators discovered that the corporate had used a observe underneath which a vessel may depart on the idea that the captain would monitor circumstances and switch again if mandatory. That method differed from the working requirements underneath which a voyage was presupposed to be canceled when climate and sea circumstances had been anticipated to succeed in specified limits.
The investigation discovered that the captain lacked a number of the information and expertise required for protected operations within the space and that the corporate successfully lacked a functioning operational administration system.
Communication preparations additionally proved insufficient.
Shortly earlier than the accident, the vessel’s accepted communications tools had been modified from a satellite tv for pc cellphone to an au cell phone. Investigators discovered that the cell community had virtually no reception between Cape Shiretoko and the realm round Kashuni Falls, limiting the captain’s capability to acquire recommendation or assist from shore when the emergency developed.
The situation of the vessel itself was one other main issue.
Investigators decided that parts used to safe the foredeck hatch had deteriorated or loosened and had not been adequately inspected or maintained.
The Japan Craft Inspection Organization had inspected the vessel shortly earlier than the catastrophe however judged the hatch to be in good situation primarily based on a visible inspection and didn’t conduct a gap and shutting check that might have revealed that it couldn’t be correctly secured.
The Kazu I additionally had a historical past of hassle earlier than the deadly voyage. In June 2021, it ran aground close to Cape Puyuni on the western aspect of the Shiretoko Peninsula. The Japan Transport Safety Board concluded in its investigation of that accident that the captain had tried to shorten the route with out totally understanding the situation of shallow water.
The 2022 sinking prompted scrutiny not solely of Shiretoko Yuransen but additionally of the federal government our bodies answerable for regulating the corporate.
The Hokkaido District Transport Bureau had beforehand carried out a particular audit after an earlier accident involving the operator however later concluded that the corporate’s security consciousness had improved. The remaining investigation into the sinking discovered shortcomings in that oversight and concluded that regulatory and inspection safeguards had did not operate successfully.
The transport ministry revoked Shiretoko Yuransen’s enterprise license in June 2022 after figuring out quite a few security violations.
The catastrophe led Japan to tighten regulation of small passenger vessel operators. Measures included stronger inspections and audits, a system requiring passenger vessel operators to periodically renew their enterprise permits and more durable penalties for violations of security orders. Requirements for lifesaving tools on passenger vessels working in chilly waters had been additionally strengthened.
The Japan Transport Safety Board issued its remaining report in September 2023, concluding that worsening climate induced the vessel to pitch and roll, opening the improperly secured bow hatch and permitting seawater to enter.
The board mentioned the speedy bodily failure was accompanied by broader issues, together with insufficient upkeep, an absence of watertight integrity between compartments, poor operational choices, inadequate communication tools and the absence of an efficient security administration system on the firm.
Criminal proceedings finally targeted on Seiichi Katsurada, president of Shiretoko Yuransen.
Katsurada was arrested in September 2024 and later charged with skilled negligence leading to loss of life. Prosecutors argued that he ought to have foreseen the hazard from the deteriorating climate and ordered the voyage canceled.
At the opening of his trial in November 2025, Katsurada pleaded not responsible. He mentioned the captain had informed him the vessel would flip again earlier than the climate worsened and maintained that he believed it was protected to permit the boat to depart.
On June 17, 2026, the Kushiro District Court sentenced Katsurada to 5 years in jail.
The courtroom concluded that the accident was foreseeable and located that Katsurada had did not droop operations though robust wind and high-wave advisories had been issued. The protection filed an attraction the identical day.
More than 4 years after the sinking, the six lacking passengers have nonetheless not been discovered.
The newly restored pictures and movies have due to this fact taken on explicit significance for his or her households, preserving beforehand unseen moments from the passengers’ remaining journey and offering additional proof of circumstances aboard the Kazu I earlier than the catastrophe.
For the mother and father of the 34-year-old passenger whose digital camera preserved the most recent footage, the restoration has additionally offered one other connection to a son who by no means returned from Shiretoko.
His father mentioned the pictures had been “a miracle born from our son’s determination.”
Source: Kyodo