MSDF Aegis destroyer collides with fishing boat

   Before dawn on February 19, the Maritime Self-Defense Force Atago, Japan’s largest Aegis destroyer which was on its way back from missile testing off Hawaii, collided with a fishing boat and cut it half in the Pacific Ocean about 40 km off Chiba Prefecture.

The boat’s two fishermen, father and son, were missing, and the Coast Guard were looking for them.

The Yokosuka Coast Guard Office began their investigation of the Atago on suspicion of professional negligence.

   On the same day, Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo, who was on the campaign trail in Fukuoka City, severely criticized the MSDF by saying, “It is absolutely unacceptable for a vessel of the SDF, which is supposed to protect the lives of the public, to sink a fishing boat.”

   Pointing out that the Aegis destroyer is equipped with a state-of-art radar system enabling it to identify other ships located within the radius of tens of kilometers and that crew members in charge of lookout should have been on duty, Shii said, “This is an avoidable accident against which I must strongly protest.”

   “We will strongly urge the government to make the utmost effort to search for and rescue the missing persons, uncover the facts, and take preventive measures,” Shii said.
- Akahata, February 20, 2008