TOKYO: Coast guards and others on Sunday launched a three-day intensive search for 12 people who are still missing after a tour boat accident off the Shiretoko Peninsula in the northern Japan prefecture of Hokkaido last month.

In the three days through Tuesday, a total of 70 vessels and 20 aircraft will participate, including a minesweeper of the Maritime Self-Defense Force and a fishery patrol ship of the Hokkaido prefectural government. Private fishing and sightseeing boats are also slated to cooperate.

The Hokkaido police will join the search from the land.

In the accident on April 23, 14 of the 26 people who were on the Kazu I tour boat have been confirmed dead. Meanwhile, two bodies, a man and a woman, were found on nearby Kunashiri Island, and the 1st Regional Coast Guard Headquarters is hurrying to confirm their identities.

The regional headquarters, based in the Hokkaido city of Otaru, is investigating the accident on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in death.

The headquarters plans to move the tour boat to the land from a barge on Wednesday, and the transport ministry plans to offer relatives of the victims an opportunity to see the tour boat on Wednesday afternoon.

JIJI Press