Comment by the Press Secretary on the Accidental Death of a Passenger of the Kien Hwa

26 September 1996

(Provisional Translation)

We have been infomed of the death this aftenoon at 14:03, despite the efforts of a Japanese doctor, of Mr. Chan Yuk Cheung David, one of the two people who were seriously injured when four individuals jumped into the sea from the Kien Hwa, a Hong Kong registered vessel, in the waters of the Senkaku Islands. From the humnanitarian perspective, the Government of Japan made utmost efforts to assist in the situation, and regrets from the heart this outcome. Furthermore, it is our profound hope that the other seriously injured individual fully recovers as soon as possible, and we strongly hope that this type of incident is never repeated.

1. On 22 September, the Kie Hwa departed Hong Kong and entered the teritorial waters around Uotsuri Island before dawn on 26 September, and then withdrew outside the territorial waters; then, at 09:00 the same day, the vessel reentered the territorial waters. All the while, a patrol vessel of the Maritime Safety Agency repeatedly radioed warnings to the vessel to withdraw from Japanese territorial waters.
   
   
2. At approximately l0:27 on the morning of 26 September, four individuals from the Kien Hwa jumped into the sea at a location approximately 3.3 kilometers north of the west end of Uotsuri Island. By l0:40, all four individuals were retrieved from the sea by the Kien Hwa. It was apparent that two of the individuals were in serious condition.
   
   
3. Later on, at approximately 10:58, in response to a request for emergency assistance from the captain of the Kien Hwa to the Maritime Safety Agency, two personnel of the Maritime Safety Agency immediately boarded the Kien Hwa and proceeded to administer a heart massage to one of the two individuals in serious condition. At 13 :45. a doctor was transported from Ishigaki to the Kien Hwa via a Maritime Safety Agency helicopter. In spite of the emergency efforts taken by the doctor, at 14:03. the individual was declared dead. According to the doctor, drowning was the apparent cause of death.
   
   
4. At approximately 11:13, the other individual, Fong Yu Yuen, was transported to Ishigaki by a Maritime Safety Agency helicopter, and he is currently receiving attention at Yaeyama Prefectural Hospital which indicates his condition to be non-critical.