Regarding the accident in which a sightseeing boat sank off the Shiretoko Peninsula in Hokkaido, the president of the operating company violated the operating standards, saying, "There was a possibility that the accident could have been avoided if the operating standards were followed." It turned out that the document admitting that was distributed at the passenger's family briefing session.
The 1st Regional Coast Guard Headquarters has been searching for related parties of the company on the suspicion of accidental fatalities in business on the 3rd, and is proceeding with the investigation to see if there are any problems with the safety management system.
In the accident where the sightseeing boat "KAZU 1" (19 tons) carrying 26 passengers and crew sank off the coast of the Shiretoko Peninsula on the 23rd of last month, 14 passengers have died and 12 have been missing. increase.
At a family briefing held after the accident, it was found that President Seiichi Katsura of the operating company "Shiretoko Tour Boat" was handing out a document entitled "About My Failure".
Among them, President Katsura said that according to the operation standards, the tour boat had to inform the office of the passing time, weather, wave height, etc. at 13 points of the navigation route, but on the day of the accident, such contact was made. It is said that they did not communicate or record.
Furthermore, according to the Safety Management Regulations, President Katsura, who is the flight manager, had to be in the office while the ship was sailing, but on the day he left the office to go to the hospital and told other employees the captain. He did not give any instructions to contact him and keep track of the navigation situation.
After that, he apologized for violating the flight standards, saying, "If the KAZU 1 was operated according to the flight standards, it was possible that the accident could have been avoided by returning to the port early." I am.
On the other hand, the 1st Regional Coast Guard Headquarters searched the office of the company on the 2nd on suspicion of accidental fatalities in business, and then on the 3rd, it is proceeding with the investigation such as searching for related parties.
In the future, we will investigate whether there were any problems with the company's safety management system and the validity of the decision on the day of departure while recognizing the possibility of rough weather.
No new missing person found Searching inside the sunken ship is also difficult
According to the 1st Regional Coast Guard Headquarters, we sent ships and aircraft around the site sea area together with the Self-Defense Forces for the search on the 3rd, but we have not found any missing persons so far.
Also, I tried to search using an underwater camera to see if there were any people left behind in the sunken "KAZU 1", but the visibility was poor and the tide was fast, so I could not put the camera on board. ..
While the search was difficult, the Japan Coast Guard requested a private salvage company specializing in dealing with marine accidents to conduct an underwater search.
The salvage company's ship will arrive at the site sea area as early as early this month, check the status of the ship with an unmanned submersible, and search the seabed by a diver.