The Kazu 1 sightseeing boat started the tour in Shiretoko National Park on the northeastern side of Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost main island, on Apr 23 despite forecast rough seas and warnings from other tour operators. It made a distress call that afternoon saying it was sinking.
Separately, the coast guard plans to use a remote-controlled submersible camera to look inside of the sunken boat in hopes of finding bodies possibly trapped inside. The operation was delayed Monday due to bad weather. The hull of the boat with its name on it was found near Kashuni Falls, where the boat made the distress call. It was upside down on the seabed about 115m deep.