Ten people missing on a Japanese boat have confirmed their deaths

TOKYO (Reuters) – Ten people so far found from a Japanese tourist boat missing off the country’s northern coast have been confirmed dead, the coast guard said on Sunday.

On Saturday, the boat went missing with 26 people on board during a cruise off the main northern island of Hokkaido.

The coast guard said in a bulletin that among the ten, seven are men and three are women.

It was carrying 24 passengers, including two children, and two crew members.

Floating ice can be seen in the area’s waters as late as March, and water temperatures will now be between 2 and 3 degrees Celsius (36-37 Fahrenheit), an official with a local fishing cooperative said.

“Just a few minutes in that kind of water will start to make you faint,” he said.

Authorities were using aircraft and patrol boats, including seven ships, three aircraft and four helicopters from the Coast Guard, to search for Kazuo 1 passengers and crew after it encountered problems off the Shiretoko Peninsula, famous for its wildlife and drama. the coast. Read more

The Coast Guard heard from the crew on Saturday afternoon that the ship was flooding. Kyodo News reported that she last heard about two hours later, when she called her operating company to say she was skewed at a 30-degree angle.

The coast guard said it was not clear what happened to the boat. No one was available to comment at the company.

Additional reporting by David Dolan and Kiyoshi Takenaka in Tokyo; Editing by Leslie Adler, Jacqueline Wong, William Mallard and Kim Coogill

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