A mobile phone as a communication facility with land that the company is obliged to install at the time of a ship inspection by the country conducted three days before the accident in the accident where a sightseeing boat with 26 people was injured off the Shiretoko Peninsula in Hokkaido. I applied for it and found that it had passed the inspection.
Mobile phones are accepted only when communication is possible on the route, but there are areas where radio waves do not reach the site sea area, and experts say, "The company's application is doubtful, but there is also a problem with the national inspection." I'm pointing out.
On the 23rd of this month, 30 days have passed since the accident in which a sightseeing boat "KAZU 1" (19 tons) carrying 26 people was distressed off the coast of the Shiretoko Peninsula. In addition, on the 29th, the hull was found to be sunk to the bottom of the sea.
Three days before the accident, the Japan Small Ship Inspection Organization conducted the inspections stipulated by law, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, which has jurisdiction over the organization, explained that no abnormalities were confirmed.
At the time of this inspection, the company changed from the conventional satellite phone to a mobile phone and applied for it as a communication facility with land that is obliged to be installed, and it was found by interviewing the people concerned that it passed the inspection. rice field.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, mobile phones are allowed only when they can communicate on the route, and when the person in charge of the organization confirmed that they could connect reliably, the captain answered that they would connect, so the inspection was conducted. It means that it passed through.
However, according to the Maritime Security Agency, the carrier of the mobile phone for which the application was made has a "dead zone" where radio waves do not reach the site sea area, so the ship and the Maritime Security Agency can only make one call. It has been revealed that the ship's radio could only communicate with other operating companies and did not have a satellite phone.
Professor Nobukazu Wakabayashi of Kobe University Graduate School, who is familiar with maritime communications, said, "I have to say that the company's application is questionable and safety awareness is weak. We have to think about how we should be. "