Japanese tour boat missing in frigid waters with 26 on board

A general view shows the building of Shiretoko Sightseeing, a tour company building which a tour boat with 26 people onboard is missing, in Shari, Hokkaido on April 23, 2022. (Photo by Jiji Press / AFP via Getty Images) TOKYO (AP) - A tour boat with 26 people aboard was missing in the frigid waters of northern Japan on Saturday, hours after sending a distress call that it was sinking, the coast guard said.On Sunday, the Japanese Coast Guard said that their helicopters found four of the 26 people on a tour boat missing since the day before.The four people were found near the tip of Shiretoko Peninsula, but the coast guard said it could not confirm whether they were rescued alive.The 19-ton Kazu 1 made an emergency call in early afternoon, saying the ship’s bow had flooded and it was beginning to sink and tilt while traveling off the western coast of Shiretoko Peninsula in the northern island of Hokkaido, the coast guard said.The tour boat has since lost contact, according to the coast guard.

It said the boat was carrying 24 passengers, including two children, and two crew.Average April sea temperatures in Shiretoko National Park are just above freezing.An official of the vessel's operator, Shiretoko Pleasure Cruise, said he could not comment as he had to respond to calls from worried families of the passengers.Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who was attending a two-day water summit in Kumamoto in southern Japan, was canceling his program for Sunday and was set to return to Tokyo to deal with the missing boat, the NHK public broadcaster reported.High waves and strong winds were observed in the area around noon, according to a local fisheries cooperative.