The president of a tourist boat operator was indicted Wednesday for professional negligence over the 2022 sinking of a vessel off Hokkaido that left 20 people dead and six others unaccounted for.
Seiichi Katsurada, 61, head of the boat operator Shiretoko Yuransen, allegedly neglected his responsibility as safety manager to take necessary measures such as postponing or canceling the ship’s sailing despite a forecast of bad weather, according to the indictment.
Advisories were issued for strong winds and high waves in the area on the day of the tour, and it should have been canceled based on the operator’s guidelines, the Kushiro prosecutors said.
File photo taken in May 2022 shows the sunken tourist boat Kazu I being raised to the surface of the sea off the Hokkaido town of Shari. (Kyodo)
The ocean water temperature was around 3 C, and there was a risk of endangering passenger lives, they said, adding they believe high waves rocked the ship and caused the hatch near the bow to open, causing water to flood in and sink the vessel.
Katsurada said in a statement issued through his lawyers Wednesday, “As the head of the company, I will continue to apologize and make amends.”
The prosecutors did not reveal whether he has admitted to the allegations. An investigative source said he denied the allegations after his arrest, saying he believed the captain would make the decision to turn back if the weather turned bad.
The Japan Coast Guard submitted papers on the alleged criminal responsibility of Noriyuki Toyoda, the 54-year-old captain who died in the incident, to prosecutors in late September.
The prosecutors decided not to issue a charge against Toyoda on Wednesday.
The 19-ton Kazu I sank on April 23, 2022, during a cruise around the Shiretoko Peninsula, a World Natural Heritage site on Japan’s northern main island. With all 26 aboard dead or missing, there was no eyewitness to the incident.
In September 2023, the Japan Transport Safety Board said the sinking was caused by worsening weather conditions that made the ship rock repeatedly, allowing seawater to enter the vessel through a hatch near the bow and flood the engine room and other areas.
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AloJapan.com