Coast Guard Searches Okinawa Boat Operator after Fatal Accident

Nago, Okinawa Pref., March 20 (Jiji Press)--Japan Coast Guard investigators Friday began searching locations linked to the operator of boats involved in a fatal capsizing accident that happened off the Henoko district in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, southernmost Japan.

The operator is a civic group opposing the construction of a new military base in Henoko. Members of the 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters searched its office in Nago and its base in Henoko that accommodates people protesting the construction of the facility replacing the U.S. military's Futenma air station in Okinawa's Ginowan.

"We'll fully cooperate with the investigations," Zenko Nakamura, co-head of the group, told reporters.

The accident occurred Monday off Henoko, where construction work for the replacement facility was underway. Two boats operated by the group capsized, leaving two people, including a 17-year-old high school girl, dead and 14 others injured.

At that time, three crew members and 18 students of Doshisha International Senior High School in Kyoto Prefecture, western Japan, were aboard the boats. The students boarded the ships as part of a peace study program.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]