Divers begin salvaging Hokkaido tour boat one month after sinking

May 23 (Japan Today) - Divers began operations on Monday to salvage a tourist boat that sank off Hokkaido leaving 14 dead and 12 people missing, exactly one month after the incident occurred.

Nippon Salvage Co, a company hired by the Japanese coast guard, began the operations to raise the 19-ton Kazu I from around 120 meters below the surface.

The boat, which went missing off the Shiretoko Peninsula on April 23, is scheduled to be lifted on a barge with a crane as early as Tuesday. It will then be transported to a nearby port in the hope authorities can find out the cause of the accident. The coast guard is continuing its search for the missing using patrol vessels and other assets.

Once the crane loads the boat onto the barge, it will take several days to drain the vessel of seawater before it is unloaded at Abashiri port.

Deepwater divers ended their two-day search inside the boat last week, finding no trace of the 12 people still missing.

Source: ANNnewsCH

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