The president of the operator of a tourist boat that sank off Hokkaido in 2022 was arrested Wednesday over the fatal accident that left 20 people dead and six others unaccounted for, the Japan Coast Guard 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)
Seiichi Katsurada, 61, who heads the boat operator Shiretoko Yuransen, failed to ensure the safety of the vessel, the 19-ton Kazu I, which sank on April 23, 2022, with 26 people aboard, according to the 1st Regional Coast Guard Headquarters.
Katsurada had previously terminated contracts with experienced crew members to cut costs, as his company was reeling from a plunge in the number of customers during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report released last September by the Japan Transport Safety Board.
He appointed himself to the posts of safety manager and operations manager, even though he was not adequately qualified for the positions, the report said.
Noriyuki Toyoda, the then-54-year-old captain who died in the accident, did not have sufficient experience, and departed for a three-hour cruise around the Shiretoko Peninsula, a World Natural Heritage site on Japan’s northern main island, despite bad weather being forecast.
According to the report, a hatch near the vessel’s bow was not properly closed before departure leading the boat to take on water.
Katsurada told Kyodo News in March last year that he was not aware of any abnormalities with the Kazu I. He apologized to the families of the victims in a letter in the summer of 2023, adding that “the captain was responsible for inspecting the vessel.”
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AloJapan.com