Children are said to be onboard
A Japanese tour boat has gone missing off the coast of the Shiretoko Peninsula in Hokkaido,
Japan.
At least 26 people are thought to be missing, including two children and two crew members who embarked on the Kazu 1 tour boat, now thought to have sunken near the Japanese island according to the national coastguard.
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The boat's disappearance was reported shortly after officials received a distress call around 1.15pm on Friday, with those onboard alerting that the bow of the ship had begun flooding and was beginning to sink and tilt into the water.
Six patrol boats and four aircraft were sent to the area to search for any survivors, but after seven hours of a major search, no one is yet to be found. The coastguard did not receive any further communication following the initial distress call.
As per local media, fishing boats were apparently told to head back to port before 12pm as a result of bad weather and
NHK said a warning of waves reaching up to nine feet high had been issued before the vessel went missing.
The ship was said to have been listing at an angle of about 30 degrees around 3pm before losing contact in waters around the World Heritage site.
As per The Japan Times, the national coastguard also revealed that the same boat had run aground not long after leaving a port in June last year.
Those on the Japanese tour boat set out to observe local wildlife and are thought to have been supplied with life jackets, but there remain no signs of life reported at this time.
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