The Byakko sank at about 2:40 a.m. after colliding with the chemical tanker just before midnight in the Kurushima Strait, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told a news conference.
Kurushima Strait is on Japan’s Seto Inland Sea, heavy ship traffic, mix of coasters and deep-sea vessels.
The Strait has very strong tidal currents and is a bit tricky to navigate. Depending on the tidal current at times the ships pass port-to-port or stbd-to-stbd. The information wrt which arrangement is in force is passed to mariners using “traffic lights” at each entrance.
Will be interesting to see the Casualty Report on this unfortunate incident… The Car Carrier-Ro-Ro sank quickly from the looks of things… Wonder if all of the internal ramps and doors were properly secured for sea…
