A 17-year-old female student and a boat captain were pronounced dead after all 21 on board the two vessels were thrown into the water
1-MIN READ1-MINAssociated PressPublished: 5:11pm, 16 Mar 2026Two boats carrying 21 people capsized on Monday off Henoko, a controversial relocation site for a US military base off Japan’s southern island of Okinawa, throwing all into the water and leaving two of them dead, officials said.
The Japan Coast Guard said 18 of them were students from a Kyoto high school on two boats, 10 on Heiwa Maru and eight on the smaller Fukutsu, to observe the Henoko area as part of their peace education programme.
Rescuers pulled all 21 people out of the water, but a 17-year-old female student and the captain of Fukutsu were later pronounced dead, officials said. The teenager was wearing a life jacket at the time of her death.
Two people were injured but their conditions are not life-threatening.
Coastguard officials said the cause of the accident was under investigation.
