Picture: Asahi Shimbun
MDN: Sleeping navigator runs 999-ton tanker aground off Izu Peninsula
HIGASHIIZU, Shizuoka -- A tanker ran aground off Izu Peninsula in the predawn hours of Tuesday after the navigator on duty at the time fell asleep, the local office of the Japan Coast Guard (JCG) said. Captain Takuji Noda, 57, and his eight-member crew were not injured in the accident. "I had dozed off at the time," the navigator who was on duty was quoted as telling JCG officers during questioning. Moreover, the vessel was cruising off course at the time. The JCG's Shimoda Coast Guard Office is investigating the exact cause of the accident.
