Boat Captain Suspended Following Deadly Collision With Russian Ship

A captain of a fishing boat originating in Japan was sentenced to a prison term of 3 years by the Asahikawa District Court. He was sentenced to three years in prison on Monday. The 63-year-old captain was also suspended for five years from service over the death of three seamen following a collision with a Russian vessel off Hokkaido Island in May.

The Hokko Maru No. 8 captain, Teruyoshi Yoshioka, failed to examine the radar, even though it was alerted by yet another boat via the radio to check out for the Russian ship Amur, said Takashi Misawa, the Presiding Judge while ruling.

The 9.7-ton fishing boat was hunting hairy crabs during the collision around 6:30 in the morning on 26 May when it capsized. It had been operating in limited visibility owing to intense fog, per the ruling. The court ordered a suspended term, stating that Amur, too, was at fault.

Yoshioka was encountering the charges of negligence resulting in death, endangering traffic owing to sheer negligence. Prosecutors had been seeking a three-year term for the man.

The collision caused three to topple and drown in the sea. The boat belonged to a fishery cooperative in Mombetsu. It had five crew members.

Pavel Dobrianskii, a 38-year-old third officer of 662-ton Amur, during the collision was also referred to prosecutors in June, on the charges pertaining to the failure to prevent the accident.

The Russian ship with 23 members on board was loaded with seafood. It was sailing from Sakhalin to Mombetsu in Far Eastern Russia.