A Dozen Wooden Boats Carrying Dead People Wash Ashore In Japan

[Countess Olenska]

TOKYO - They drift into seas near Japan by the dozens every year, ghostly wrecked ships thought to come from impoverished North Korea.

Japanese authorities said Tuesday they are investigating nearly a dozen wooden boats carrying decomposing bodies that were found off the country's northwestern coast over the past month.

In most cases, the bodies are in such bad shape after being at sea for weeks that it's been impossible to determine their cause of death, officials say.

On Nov. 20, officials found 10 bodies in three boats off the coast of Ishikawa prefecture. Two days later, another wooden boat was found off nearby Fukui prefecture with six skulls, one nearly intact body with a head, and various other bones and remains, coast guard official Yuka Amao told The Associated Press.

Coast guard officials said at least 11 shoddy fishing boats carrying the bodies have arrived since late October. Most are carrying equipment, nets and signs written in Korean, including one carrying a sign saying "Korean People's Army," the North Korean army.

The officials said they could not say for certain, but the poor condition and small size of the 33-foot- to 40-foot-long vessels are not typical of South Korea or Japan, said coast guard spokesman Yoshiaki Hiroto. He said evidence suggests the boats are from the Korean Peninsula, though he declined to identify the country.

The recent spate of arrivals has drawn attention, though such discoveries are not out of the ordinary: dozens of such wrecked boats drift toward the Japan every year.

So far this year, 34 mystery boats have drifted over, including the 11 found between late October and November. Last year, Japan found 65 of them. In 2013, there were 80, according to the coast guard.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/wooden-boats-carrying-dead-bodies-keep-washing-up-in-japan/

 

[rod2pop]

This is so morbidly cool. I mean, it's horrible people died, but at the same time, it's a fascinating mystery. I like to think the boats are coming from different periods in Time, and somebody's gonna find a portal to the past on one of those ships, and survive some kind of macabre adventure they can reveal when they get back. They'll destroy all the ships so some peril from the past can't get thru to the present and kill us all. Maybe I should go home and write a novel. But it's probably already been done, like the Final Countdown or something.

 

[everjaded]

Like all the ghost ships floating by in Pirates of the Caribbean (one of them, don't remember which).

Elizabeth Swann saw her father row by, and was heartbroken that he was dead.

 

[Satanica]

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/30/asia/japan-ghost-ship-north-korea/index.html

[....]
All of the bodies were badly decomposed and "partially skeletonized" -- two were found without heads -- and one boat contained six skulls, the coast guard said. The first boat was found in October, then a series of boats in late November.
[....]
Their best guess so far is that the ships are from North Korea. One clue pointing that direction is Korean lettering on the hull of a boat containing 10 decomposing bodies, one of three boats which were found adrift off the city of Wajima on the west coast of Japan on November 20.

The writing said "Korean People's Army," the name of North Korea's military defense forces, the coast guard said.

Another clue could come from a tattered scrap of cloth found on one of the boats, which looks like it could be from a North Korean national flag, Japan's biggest broadcaster NHK reported.

"There's no doubt that these boats are North Korean,"[....]

Yoshihiko Yamada, a maritime expert, told NHK that the vessels bear a "striking resemblance" to those used by defectors from North Korea.

He gave a possible explanation for the fleet and its deathly crew arriving on Japan's shores: "(The boats) are made of wood and are old and heavy. They can't travel very fast and the engines are not powerful enough to turn the ships against the currents."

Some in the Japanese media, including NHK, have also speculated that the vessels could be fishing boats that strayed off course.

Wright believes it is more likely to be people trying to flee the regime, although he added that it's impossible to be sure with the limited information available.[....]

 

[Caligirl90]

One part doesn't line up fir me with the escaping North Koreans. The boat with 6 skulls. How could only skulls be left in the boat?

 

[LarzlovesJahi]

One part doesn't line up fir me with the escaping North Koreans. The boat with 6 skulls. How could only skulls be left in the boat?

Cannibalism on the part of the person who was found intact?

 

[Caligirl90]

Cannibalism on the part of the person who was found intact?

The way I read it, those were separate boats. You could be right though, but then why keep the skulls? It's just so odd.

 

[LarzlovesJahi]

On Nov. 20, officials found 10 bodies in three boats off the coast of Ishikawa prefecture. Two days later, another wooden boat was found off nearby Fukui prefecture with six skulls, one nearly intact body with a head, and various other bones and remains, coast guard official Yuka Amao told The Associated Press.

@Caligirl90: yeah, that's a great point. Why keep the skulls?

 

[Satanica]

Well, the one survivor had to have someone to talk to, right? I'm imagining the basketball or whatever it was in the Tom Hanks movie.

 

[MissLiz]

Wilson! A volleyball. I really liked that movie..

 

[Satanica]

Thanks, MissLiz!