A tour boat carrying 26 persons has disappeared from the coast of Japan.
According to the coastguard, the vessel has been gone for more than seven hours.
Before all trace of the Kazu 1 was lost, it issued a distress call and warned that it was taking on water.
The search for any survivors among the 24 passengers and two crew members is underway.
The skipper of the ship had earlier radioed the coastguard that the ship’s bow was flooded.
They warned that the ship was tilting and sinking off the country’s western coast.
It was cruising along the Shiretoko Peninsula on Kokkaido’s northern island at the time.
According to a local fisheries cooperative, high waves and heavy gusts were seen in the area about 12 p.m.
According to Japanese news reports, fishing boats returned to port before noon due to poor weather.
There was a warning for huge waves of up to nine feet high, according to the NHK public television.
Image Credit: Getty
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