Japanese coast guard authorities arrested the president of a tour operator on Wednesday over a high-profile boating accident in 2022. Of the 26 people onboard, 20 died while six remain missing.
Seiichi Katsurada was arrested by the Abashiri coast guard station in Hokkaido on allegations such as professional negligence resulting in death. Katsurada, 61, is president of Shiretoko Yuransen, boat tour company a based in the town of Shari in the northernmost Japan prefecture.
Katsurada has been accused of neglecting his duty to ensure the safety of the passengers and crew on the Kazu I tour boat, as the person in charge of the vessel’s operation when the boat went on a tour around the Shiretoko Peninsula in eastern Hokkaido on April 23, 2022.
The accident occurred near a waterfall on the southwestern part of the Shiretoko peninsula. The Kazu I lost contact after one of the passengers spoke with a relative over the phone during the tour around 1:26 p.m. The ship is believed to have gone down soon after that.
In a final investigative report on the accident released in September 2023, the Japan Transport Safety Board, affiliated with the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry, said that a large amount of seawater gushed into the Kazu I through a hatch on its deck that opened due to a shaking of the boat, leading the vessel to sink.