Japanese police found the remains of at least five people in a wooden boat suspected to be from North Korea on the coast of one of Japan’s outlying islands on Saturday, a Coast Guard official said.
The heads of two persons, as well as five bodies were found.
Police made the discovery in the wooden boat’s stem around 9:30 a.m. (0030 GMT) on Saturday on Sado island, which is off the coast of Japan’s northwestern prefecture of Niigata, Coast Guard official Kei Chinen said.
The official could not immediately confirm whether the heads belonged to the five bodies or were from two other people, saying that it is being investigated.
The wooden boat had letters and numbers written in Korean on its outside, he added.
A police officer first spotted the wooden boat on Friday afternoon. Police waited until Saturday before entering it due to unstable weather
