NAHA –
A high school student and the captain of a ship died after two boats capsized on Monday off the Henoko district of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture.
The ships are used by civic groups for protesting against the Japanese government’s plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to Henoko from Ginowan, also in Okinawa Prefecture. On Monday, the ships were carrying students from Doshisha International High School in Kyoto Prefecture who were visiting Okinawa for peace studies, according to a report by NHK.
The incident occurred around 10:10 a.m. All 21 people aboard the ships were rescued. Four were taken to a hospital, and two of them — a female student from Doshisha and a ship’s captain in his 70s — were later confirmed dead, according to the Japan Coast Guard’s 11th regional headquarters in Naha.
The two ships involved were the Heiwa Maru, carrying 12 people, and the Fukutsu, with nine aboard, according to the coast guard regional headquarters.
According to a civic group, about 40 students from Doshisha high school were visiting the Henoko area to study U.S. military base issues. One of the groups boarded the protest ships to view the reclamation works for the planned base relocation, NHK reported.
AloJapan.com