OSAKA — A body was found off central Japan’s Fukui Prefecture on Sept. 30, and authorities are looking into whether it is that of a 14-year-old girl who went missing in neighboring Ishikawa Prefecture after torrential rains hit the Noto Peninsula in late September.
The Fukui Coast Guard Station announced on Oct. 1 that the body of a woman was found, and that a tag on her jersey bore handwritten kanji characters reading “Kiso.” The station is investigating whether the body belongs to Hanon Kiso, a third-year junior high school student from Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, who remains unaccounted for following the rain disaster.
According to the station, at around 4:15 p.m. on Sept. 30, a fishing boat on its way back to home port called the Japan Coast Guard (JCG)’s emergency number and reported that what appeared to be a human body was drifting in waters about 40 kilometers west of the Port of Fukui in the city of Sakai, Fukui Prefecture. A JCG patrol boat subsequently retrieved the body the same day.
The body is about 150 centimeters tall and was wearing a blackish long-sleeved shirt and a jersey of a similar hue.
(Japanese original by Kensuke Yaoi, Osaka City News Department)
Body found off central Japan may belong to teen missing since Noto Peninsula downpour
