The 1st Regional Coast Guard Headquarters conducted a DNA test on the bodies of three people found on the coast of Kunashiri Island in the Northern Territories and handed over by Russia after a tourist boat sank off the coast of the Shiretoko Peninsula in Hokkaido. announced that two missing passengers and one deckhand had been confirmed.
Eighteen people have been confirmed dead in the sinking accident.
In April this year, 15 people died and 11 people went missing in the accident in which the sightseeing boat "KAZU I" carrying 26 passengers and crew sank off the coast of the Shiretoko Peninsula.
After the accident, three bodies were found on the coast of Kunashiri Island in the Northern Territories, a man and a woman, and a man on the coast of Sakhalin. On the 9th, the Russian side handed over the body and confirmed the identity by DNA analysis.
As a result, the two people found on Kunashiri Island were confirmed to be a 21-year-old female passenger living in Kitami City, Hokkaido, and Kiyoshi Soyama, 27, a deckhand in Chofu City, Tokyo. One person was confirmed as a 59-year-old male passenger living in Ebetsu City, Hokkaido.
With this, 18 people have been confirmed dead among those on board, and the Japan Coast Guard Headquarters will continue to search for the remaining eight missing people.