KUSHIRO, Hokkaido—The president of the company that operated the Kazu I tour boat was sentenced to five years in prison on June 17 for professional negligence resulting in the vessel’s sinking in stormy weather in 2022.
The tragedy left 26 people dead or missing off the Shiretoko Peninsula.
In his ruling, Presiding Judge Takeo Mizukoshi of the Kushiro District Court said Shiretoko Pleasure Boat President Seiichi Katsurada had neglected his duty “to grasp information about strong winds and high waves and to order the captain to suspend the voyage.”
He then handed the 62-year-old the five-year prison term prosecutors had demanded.
The defense filed an appeal the same day.
The accident occurred shortly after 1:20 p.m. on April 23, 2022, when the Kazu I sank about 14 kilometers offshore of the Shiretoko Cape lighthouse in Hokkaido.
Two crew members, including the captain, and all 24 passengers, who had traveled from across Japan to see the scenic peninsula, died or went missing.
The trial centered on whether Katsurada could have foreseen the tragedy.
Prosecutors stated that he was aware of the forecast for worsening weather, while the defense argued that he believed the boat would turn back if conditions became too dangerous.
The court dismissed Katsurada’s claim that he had an understanding with the boat’s captain to return to port early as “unreasonable and not credible.”
Mizukoshi found that even the weather reports Katsurada consulted should have made it clear that operating the vessel was outside of safety standards.
The judge concluded that while the fatal influx of seawater through a damaged hatch cover was an extreme event, Katsurada, as operations manager, could and should have foreseen the risk of death and injury by allowing the voyage in such hazardous conditions.
The court ultimately rejected the defense’s core argument that Katsurada was unaware of the hatch defect and that the accident was therefore unforeseeable.
AloJapan.com