NIIGATA -- A total of 80 people were injured Saturday when a high-speed jetfoil collided with what is believed to have been a whale off Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture.
Among the 125 crew members and passengers of the Sado Steam Ship Co.'s Ginga, 13 people were seriously injured, including a fracture of a hipbone, and 67 were lightly injured when the jetfoil collided with a large marine animal at about 12:15 p.m. Some of the injured, mainly heavily injured people, were taken to hospitals in Niigata and other cities.
According to the Niigata Coast Guard Office, the Ginga was traveling at about 80 kph on its route from Niigata Port in Niigata city to Sado Island's Ryotsu Port when the collision occurred. The Ginga made an emergency stop about 4.5 kilometers east-northeast from the Himesaki lighthouse in Sado.
A jetfoil is a high-speed ship that flies over the water with lift provided by foils below its hull. The Ginga suffered a 15-centimeter crack in its hull.
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