Hokkaido boat firm head's defense pleads not guilty over 2022 fatal sinking

The defense counsel for the president of a tourist boat operator pleaded not guilty to professional negligence Wednesday over the 2022 sinking of a vessel off Hokkaido in northern Japan that left all 26 aboard dead or missing.Seiichi Katsurada "could not have foreseen" the sinking, his lawyer told the Kushiro District Court at the first hearing of the trial, noting he had collected necessary information on the day of the accident and was unaware of a defect in the vessel's hatch, identified as having led to the sinking.Katsurada, 62, president of the boat operator Shiretoko Yuransen, said a…READ FULL ARTICLE