JCG collects 3 bodies at Sakhalin port

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:51 JST, September 9, 2022

Japan’s 1st Regional Coast Guard Headquarters said Friday that it collected from Russia the bodies of three people who were believed to have aboard the Kazu I sightseeing boat that sank off the Shiretoko Peninsula in Hokkaido in April.

The Japan Coast Guard patrol vessel Tsugaru entered the port of Korsakov on the southern part of Sakhalin Island and recovered the bodies. The vessel was to bring the bodies to Japan on Saturday morning, after which they would undergo DNA analysis for definitive identification, the JCG said.

The bodies of a man and a woman were found on the west coast of Kunashiri Island in the northern territories in May, and the body of a man was found on the southern coast of Sakhalin Island in June. Identification conducted by the Russian side showed that all of the bodies matched the DNA types of the people who had been on board.