Taiwanese diver dies during underwater survey of historic coal mine in Japan

A Taiwanese diver died Saturday during recovery work at the Chosei coal mine in Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture, where the remains of Koreans and others killed in a 1942 flooding accident are being recovered.

Wei Hsu, also known as Victor Hsuwei, entered the water at around 11:30 a.m. Saturday for a recovery operation and suffered convulsions during an underwater inspection and lost consciousness, according to Japanese media. The diver was transported to a hospital by rescue workers who arrived at around 12:30 p.m. The death was confirmed at around 2 p.m.

The Chosei coal mine was an undersea mine in Ube where a particularly large number of Korean laborers worked. On Feb. 3, 1942, a tunnel collapsed and led to flooding that killed 183 people, including 136 Koreans and 47 Japanese. After the accident, the site was largely forgotten without proper recovery efforts.

Interest was renewed after a Japanese civic group founded in 1991 conducted long-term research and began work to recover the remains last year.

Last August, the group recovered four bone fragments, including what was believed to be a skull, through work carried out by Korean divers. Expectations for identifying victims grew after President Lee Jae Myung and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi agreed at a summit held on Jan. 13 in Nara to jointly pursue DNA testing of the recovered remains.

A new round of recovery work began on Tuesday under the attention of the Korean and Japanese governments. The operation was carried out by a multinational team of six divers from Japan, Finland, Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan. On Friday, additional remains were identified, including one skull, seven teeth and two bone fragments believed to be cervical vertebrae that had been buried in mud.

The recovery operation had been scheduled to continue through Wednesday, but was canceled following the Taiwanese diver's death. A memorial ceremony took place at the site Saturday with bereaved families from both countries and lawmakers in attendance.

“This year we truly want to deliver the remains to the bereaved families in both countries,” said Inoue Yoko, head of the association.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.

BY KIM HYUN-YE [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]