Page 6 - aruba-today-20220425

A6 WORLD NEWS
Monday 25 april 2022
10 found dead after Japan tour boat with 26 aboard sinks

By MARI YAMAGUCHI told reporters early Sunday
TOKYO (AP) — Rescuers that he instructed officials
said that 10 people who "to do everything they can
were retrieved Sunday for the rescue."
from the frigid sea and the The cause of the accident
rocky coast of a northern is under investigation, but
Japanese national park officials and experts sus-
had died, a day after a pect a safety negligence.
tour boat with 26 aboard High waves and strong
apparently sank in rough winds were forecast when
waters, triggering questions the boat left and Japanese
why it was allowed to sail. media reports said fishing
The search for the others is boats had returned to port
still ongoing after the boat before noon Saturday be-
sent a distress call on Sat- cause of the bad weather.
urday afternoon saying it A tour boat crew belong-
was sinking. The location, ing to another operator
near the Kashuni Waterfall, told NHK that he warned
is known as a difficult place the Kazu 1 crew of rough
to maneuver boats be- seas and told them not to
cause of its rocky coastline go. He also said the same
and strong tide. boat ran aground last year
There were two crew and and suffered a crack on its
24 passengers, including This aerial photo shows a rescuer being lifted in a search operation for missing passengers and bow.
two children, on the the crew members of a sunken tour boat, off Shiretoko Peninsula, northern Japan of Hokkaido Sun- Saturday's tour was re-
19-ton Kazu 1 when it ran day, April 24, 2022. portedly the first by the
into troubles while travel- Associated Press operator this season, and
ing off the western coast the accident just before
of the Shiretoko Peninsula. "We will thoroughly inves- square-shaped lifesaving were without them. Japan's Golden Week
The coast guard said the tigate what caused this float with the boat's name Average April sea tem- holidays starting late April
10 victims — seven men situation and what kind on it was also found near peratures in Shiretoko Na- could dampen local tour-
and three women — were of safety oversight was in- the rocks, the coast guard tional Park are just above ism, which slumped during
adults. volved to allow the tour in said. freezing, which experts say the pandemic. Japan is still
The Transport Ministry order to prevent another Footage on public broad- would cause hypothermia. largely closed to foreign
launched an investigation accident," Transport Minis- caster NHK showed one "It's a very severe condition visitors.
into the boat's operator, ter Tetsuo Saito, who visited of the victims arriving on a especially when they are Hokkaido Gov. Naomichi
which had two accidents the area Sunday, told re- helicopter and being trans- wet," Jun Abe, vice chair- Suzuki told reporters Sun-
last year. The ministry said porters. ferred to an ambulance on man of the Society of Wa- day that he planned to re-
it was looking into safety Following an intensive a stretcher. Rescuers held ter Rescue and Survival Re- quest safety checks by tour
standards and the deci- search involving six patrol up blue plastic shields to search, told TBS TV. operators in the prefecture
sion to conduct the tour boats, several aircraft and protect the victim's privacy. Yoshihiko Yamada, a To- ahead of the holidays.
despite rough weather on divers that went through The sightseeing vessel kai University marine sci- According to the opera-
Saturday. the night, rescuers on early made an emergency call ence professor, said the tor's website, the tour takes
The operator, Shiretoko Sunday found four people early Saturday afternoon, boat was likely to have run around three hours and
Pleasure Cruise, had been near the tip of Shiretoko saying its bow had flooded aground after it was tossed offers scenic views of the
instructed to take steps to Peninsula and later six more and that it was beginning around in high waves and western coast of the pen-
improve its safety following in the same area, about 14 to sink and tilt, the coast damaged. A boat of that insula and a chance to
earlier accidents in which it kilometers (8.7 miles) north guard said. Contact with size usually does not carry a see whales, dolphins and
ran aground in June with- from where the boat sent a the boat had since been life boat, he said. brown bears. The national
out causing injuries, and distress call. Some of them lost. The coast guard said Prime Minister Fumio Kishida park is listed as a UNESCO
another in May, when three were plucked from the sea, the operator told them cut short his attendance at World Heritage site and is
passengers suffered minor while others were washed that everyone on the boat a two-day summit in Kuma- famous as the southern-
injuries when the boat col- onto the rocky coast. was wearing a life vest, but moto in southern Japan most region to see drifting
lided with an object. An orange-colored, some of the victims found and returned to Tokyo. He sea ice.q

El Salvador president wants to extend state of emergency

SAN SALVADOR, El Salva- pearance or where they country of 6.5 million has
dor (AP) — President Nayib live. The original 30-day not seen in years.
Bukele asked El Salvador's state of emergency ap- Bukele has also established
congress Sunday to extend proved in late March re- a raft of other measures.
an anti-gang emergency stricts the right to gather, to Among other things, they
decree for another 30 days. be informed of rights and lengthened sentences, re-
Bukele has used the emer- have access to a lawyer. It duced the age of criminal
gency powers to round up extends to 15 days the time responsibility to 12.
about 16,000 suspected that someone can be held El Salvador's congress has
gang members, following a without charges. authorized prison sentenc-
spate of murders in March. It came after a spate of kill- es of 10 to 15 years for news
El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele speaks to the press at Mex- Rights groups have criti- ings in late March, when media that reproduce or
ico's National Palace after meeting with the President Andres cized the measures, saying gangs were blamed for disseminate messages from
Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexico City, March 12, 2019. arrests are often arbitrary, 62 killings in a single week- the gangs, alarming press
Associated Press
based on a person's ap- end, a level of violence the freedom groups.q