May 29 07:00 AM US/EasternYOKOHAMA, May 29 (AP) - (Kyodo) — The chief navigator on the Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer which collided with a fishing boat in the Pacific off Chiba Prefecture in February mistakenly believed there was no danger of collision as a forward group of boats, including the one it hit, was engaged in fishing operations and some were anchored there, Japan Coast Guard investigations showed Thursday.
The Coast Guard, based in Yokohama, has determined that the 7,750-ton Atago and the 7.3-ton Seitoku Maru were on a "collision course," in which both vessels could see the other making no move, although they actually were approaching, Coast Guard sources said.
Given the circumstances, the Coast Guard suspects that the MSDF destroyer did not undertake sufficient surveillance and fell behind in awareness of the danger of collision, according to the sources.
The Coast Guard is planning to send papers on the 35-year-old chief navigator, who was duty officer, and the 35-year-old officer to whom he handed over duty, to prosecutors as early as mid-June on suspicion they neglected continuous surveillance and appropriate duty handover.
The two fishermen on the Seitoku Maru -- Haruo Kichisei, 58, and his 23-year-old son Tetsuhiro -- went missing in the Feb. 19 collision and were declared dead May 20.
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