Survivors of tour boat accident recall nightmare; search continues

KAMEOKA, Kyoto Prefecture—A father and son who were aboard the sightseeing boat that capsized in the Hozugawa river here described how they clung together in the frigid water to survive.

The father in his 40s from Osaka Prefecture said he and his son were swept down the river for 100 meters or so after the boat capsized on March 28.

“Honestly, I thought I was going to die,” he told The Asahi Shimbun. “I let myself go with the water’s flow and waited to come to the shallow part of the river.”

The son, a fourth-grader at an elementary school, appeared exhausted after the harrowing experience.

“The boat swung around and capsized,” the boy said. “It was dangerous to swim, so I just let myself be swept away and waited until my feet touched (the riverbed). I clung to my father as he was just there. The water was very cold.”

They ended up in a shallow part of the river and survived, the father said.

A total of 29 people were on the boat. One of them, a 51-year-old rower, died in the accident, while another rower remains missing.

Around 35 officers of the Kyoto prefectural police resumed their search for the missing rower around 7:30 a.m. on March 29.

Police and the fire service have used a helicopter and a boat in the search of the river.

The government’s Japan Transport Safety Board on March 29 dispatched two marine accident investigators to the site. They plan to interview people related to the accident, including other rowers, to determine exactly what happened.

The cruise is popular among tourists in Kyoto Prefecture.

The Kameoka-based association of pleasure boat companies for the Hozugawa river suspended sightseeing boat operations on March 29 in light of the accident.

The association said it does not know when the cruises will resume.