SHARI, Hokkaido Rescuers deployed a remotely operated submersible for the first time May 8 to search the interior of a sunken sightseeing boat as efforts continued to locate people still missing two weeks after the disaster off eastern Hokkaido.
The Japan Coast Guard extended its search operation into contentious waters on May 5 as it looks for 12 missing people from a tour boat tragedy that occurred off Hokkaido in late April.
The Japan Coast Guard on May 4 released underwater images of the interior of a tour boat that sank off eastern Hokkaido with 26 people on board as investigators questioned the operator on suspected breaches of safety management.
With one key witness missing, presumed drowned, the Japan Coast Guard is honing in on the president of Shiretoko Pleasure Boat to determine criminal liability in the boating tragedy off eastern Hokkaido last month that likely claimed the lives of all 26 people on board.
OBIHIRO, Hokkaido Tomoya Suzuki, one of more than two dozen victims of a tour boat tragedy off Hokkaido last month, had planned to propose to his girlfriend following what he hoped would prove to be a memorable and romantic day out together.