Survey to Begin at Western Japan Site of 1942 Undersea Mine Accident

Ube, Yamaguchi Pref., Jan. 27 (Jiji Press)--A local civic group will launch another survey later this week to locate the remains of 183 people left at an underwater coal mine that was flooded in an accident more than 80 years ago in the western Japan city of Ube.

Below two shafts sticking out of the Seto Inland Sea, the remains of 136 people from the Korean Peninsula and 47 Japanese nationals still lie in the flooded Chosei coal mine in Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture.

On Feb. 3, 1942, which was during World War II, the flooding accident occurred in a tunnel located 1 kilometer away from the coal mine's entrance. The entrance was sealed after the accident, with the remains of the workers still inside.

Established in 1991, the civic group did not start out with the aim of recovering the remains, but it shifted its objective to their recovery and return after building a memorial monument and talking to bereaved family members of the Korean workers.

To achieve the goal, the group has been in negotiations with the governments of Japan and South Korea since 2018.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]