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Five bodies found in boat off Japanese coast | |
(about 2 hours later) | |
Five bodies have been found in a badly damaged boat with Korean language markings off Japan's west coast. | |
The 10m vessel washed ashore on Sado Island, Niigata City in waters between Japan and the Korean peninsula. | |
All those on board were adult males, Japanese broadcaster NHK said. Police have not confirmed their nationalities but suspect the men were North Korean. | |
In the past a very small number of North Korean refugees have made the journey to Japan by boat. | In the past a very small number of North Korean refugees have made the journey to Japan by boat. |
Local fishermen found the vessel, weighing more than 4,500kg (five tonnes), around 09:00 local time (17:00 GMT), police say. | |
The fishermen told local media that they found no engines attached to the boat. The men on board were estimated to have died at least a month ago, police added. | |
In September last year, a boat carrying nine North Koreans arrived in Kanazawa, further to the south. The group were later resettled in South Korea. | |
In January 2012 another group of four North Korean fishermen found by the Japanese coastguard after developing engine trouble were repatriated at their request. | |
A police spokesman told AFP news agency that the Korean characters on the boat - which appeared to have been drifting for some time - were impossible to read. | A police spokesman told AFP news agency that the Korean characters on the boat - which appeared to have been drifting for some time - were impossible to read. |
"The bodies are decomposed badly," the spokesman added. |