Ship With Deep - Sea Divers On Way To Hokkaido To Join Search For Missing
A salvage company vessel carrying deep-sea divers has left a western Japanese port to join a search for people who went missing when a tour boat sank off Hokkaido in northern Japan last month.
The KAZU I, carrying 26 people, sank off the Shiretoko Peninsula during a sightseeing cruise on April 23. Fourteen passengers have been confirmed dead. Twelve, including two crewmembers, remain unaccounted for.
The boat was found on the seabed at a depth of 120 meters.
The salvage firm vessel left Moji Port in Fukuoka Prefecture on Tuesday. It has equipment for a technique called saturation diving, which allows divers to operate in deep-sea conditions.
The vessel is being towed by a tugboat and is expected to arrive in the area in about a week.
Specialized divers are expected to start deep-sea work this month to see if anyone is trapped in the boat.
On Tuesday, another vessel from the salvage firm used an unmanned submersible to look for the missing. The Coast Guard and the Maritime Self Defense Force searched the area, but say no new clues had been found as of 3 p.m. that day.