Kishida: Transport minister to be dispatched to boat accident area

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks to reporters in the early hours of Sunday morning.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters he was planning to send Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Tetsuo Saito to the area where the sightseeing boat made an emergency call.

Kishida was visiting Kumamoto Prefecture on Saturday, but cut short his trip and returned to Tokyo the same day on a Self-Defense Force plane. He canceled a Sunday inspection of areas hit by heavy rains in Kyushu.