Chapter 2 Marine Accidents and Investigation Thereof
Section 1 Occurrence of marine accidents
1. Recognition of marine accidents
Maritime Safety officials, marine authorities, police officers, the mayors of cities, towns or villages, and consulates in foreign countries are required to report marine accidents to the appropriate commissioner when such accidents come to their attention. The commissioner commences an investigation immediately and collects evidence.
In certain cases, the occurrence of a marine accident comes to the attention of a commissioner directly through newspaper and television coverage. As well as reports from maritime safety agency offices and maritime authorities, therefore, the media is a primary source of information on marine accidents in Japanese territorial waters and around the world (Fig. 2-1-1).
