Ten people on board the Japanese tourist boat that went missing on Saturday off the northern coast of Japan have been found dead. The Japanese coast guard reported this on Sunday, international news agencies write. Seven of them were male, three were female. The other 16 people who were on the ship on Saturday have not yet been found. Japanese authorities have deployed boats, planes and helicopters to find them.
The ship, the Kazu I, made an emergency call to the coast guard on Saturday, because water flowed into the vessel. Later, the crew reported that the boat had begun to overturn. Since then, there has been no contact with the passengers. Among the 24 passengers were two children. There were two crew members on the boat.
The ship was on a tourist cruise along the Shiretoko Peninsula, in the northeast of the northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaido. The island is a World Heritage Site because of the endangered sea and migratory birds and species of salmon and whales that live there.
In March, ice floes usually still float in the sea at Shiretoko. At this time of year, the water is about 2 to 3 degrees Celsius. A worker at a local fishery told Reuters news agency that “your consciousness becomes clouded after just a few minutes in that type of water.” High waves were seen in the area on Saturday.