Deadly typhoon strikes Japan
Thu 21 October, 2004 07:16
A total of 167 people, including 102 trainees aged around 20, were being slowly taken to shore from their ship, the 2,556-ton Kaio Maru, which ran aground on a breakwater in the middle of the storm. Three suffered injuries such as broken wrists.
The ship was waiting out the typhoon at Toyama, 158 miles west of Tokyo, when 89 mile an hour winds and high seas swept it onto the breakwater, said an official at the National Institute for Sea Training, its operator.
A Coast Guard official said: "Waves were crashing onto the deck, making it impossible for the crew and trainees to get out themselves."
