The navigator of a cargo ship that collided with a fishing boat in central Japan and left two people dead was arrested Saturday for professional negligence, a local coast guard office said.
Hanon Sugimoto, 21, has admitted that she was at the helm of the 499-ton, 71-meter cargo vessel at the time of the collision on Friday afternoon, according to the coast guard office in Toba, Mie Prefecture.
She was alone on the bridge when the vessel with a crew of six, which was heading to the western city of Kurashiki without any cargo, hit the side of the 16-ton fishing boat that was anchored with 13 people aboard, it said.
An 84-year-old man and a 67-year-old man on the fishing boat, both from Matsusaka in Mie, drowned, while its captain and the 10 other passengers sustained injuries.
The captain of the cargo ship reported the collision to the coast guard at around 12:55 p.m.
The cargo vessel was headed to a port in Okayama Prefecture, with all six crew members, including one trainee, unharmed, the operator said.
"They were shivering and trying to warm themselves with blankets and hand warmers," a 66-year-old man said after seeing those who were rescued.
Editor: Story has been updated to report the arrest of the cargo ship navigator.
© KYODO
14 Comments
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P_C
12:55PM? something fishy here . . .
sakurasuki
Open sea are so vast, why need to collide as if ocean is one small alley?
USNinJapan2
If the fishing boat was anchored (not moving), the cargo ship crew clearly failed to maintain a proper lookout.
3RENSHO
The time of the collision indicates that it occurred at lunchtime; the 6 crew were possibly eating lunch with no-one on watch.
3RENSHO
The ship's navigator (21 years of age) has now been arrested. Why is a twenty-one-year old piloting a five-hundred tonne vessel?
garymalmgren
With absolutely no evidence I will go with: She was using her phone ate the time of the collision.
OssanAmerica
Saw on TV. Hull split entirely in two floating in two separate locations. Doesn"t look like the fishing boat was just hit on the side. It was hit and the larger vessel cut through it.
Yohan
I am surprised that it is allowed that only 1 person is on the bridge of such a huge ship, a 499-ton, 71-meter cargo vessel while it is moving. If this person in charge feels sick suddenly, the ship will move on without anybody at the helm.
OssanAmerica
One person on the bridge. Did the ARPA alarm go off when approaching the fishing boat?
Spitfire
Two blokes aged 84 and 67 lost their life.
What the hell were they doing still working?
Man, Japan’s pension must really suck.
RIP to the men.
Fishy story all around though.
Wonder if the young lady has been thrown under the bus.
Meiyouwenti
Why hasn’t the captain of the cargo ship been arrested? The navigator was under his supervision.
USNinJapan2
Spitfire
The vessel that sank was a chartered fishing boat, not a commercial fishing boat. That's why the people who were on it are referred to as passengers and not crewmembers in the article.
OssanAmerica
21 year old female navigator on the bridge alone has been arrested. The Master (captain) has only been called in for voluntary questioning. Hopefully that wil change.
OssanAmerica
They weren't working. Both men were paying fishing passengers. This was a recreational fishing boat, not a commercial one.