Rescue operation to search for passengers of the KAZU 1 cruise ship. File photoTOKYO, Apr 29Japan Self-Defense Forces have found fragments similar to the missing cruise ship KAZU 1 on the seafloor, NHK reported. The wreckage was recovered Friday morning using underwater cameras. They are located at a depth of 100 meters in the area of the waterfall — one of the local attractions, the view of which opens from the sea. The ship issued a distress signal from the area. The fragments show the letters «Z» and «U», as well as the number «1». The Japan Maritime Security Service believes that the fragments belong to the missing vessel. The small excursion vessel «KAZU 1» issued a distress signal on April 23, and then stopped going to communications off the west coast of the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. There were 26 people on board, including two children. A day later, 15 kilometers northeast of the place where the ship gave a distress signal, 10 dead were found, on Monday morning they found a dead girl — one of the two children on the ship. She was carried another 14 kilometers to the east. On Thursday it became known about the discovery of three more people. The remaining 12 people are still missing. Presumably, the cause of the accident could be adverse weather conditions: the height of the waves at the time of the accident reached three meters. At a press conference, the president of the company that owns the vessel admitted that it was a mistake to release it into the sea. He also acknowledged the failure of the radio antenna. In addition, it turned out that the satellite connection was also broken.
