A crippled ferry that had been drifting off the coast near Tokyo has been towed to safety at a port in the Izu island chain nearly one day after it set sail.
The Seven Islands Ai, a high-speed jet ferry operated by Tokai Kisen, left the Takeshiba Terminal in Tokyo at 7:45 a.m. on Wednesday. It was headed for Shikine Island in the Pacific with 116 passengers and five crew members on board.
The jet ferry lost control when it was cruising about 20 kilometers off the coast of the Boso Peninsula. A Japan Coast Guard patrol vessel and a privately owned tug boat attached a rope to the drifting ferry and pulled it to a port in Oshima Island in the Izu island chain.
Currents and strong winds made the task difficult. The ferry arrived at the port shortly after 5:30 a.m. on Thursday.
The Coast Guard said some passengers became seasick but none of them needed to be taken to hospital.
Two travelers said there was an announcement that the crew were conducting safety inspections and the ferry stopped moving for about an hour.
The women said they felt sick and it was difficult to sleep because they kept waking up.
The women said they were anxious as the ferry rocked in rough waters, but were relieved to reach shore safely.
Some of the passengers headed for their original destination of Shikine Island at around 10 a.m. on a vessel arranged by the ferry operator.
The operator is also making arrangements for those who want to return to central Tokyo.
The local coast guard office is interviewing crew members and investigating the cause of the ferry’s malfunction. They suspect it may have developed a steering problem.