Televiewers See Hijacker Killed

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32296, 14 May 1970, Page 17

Televiewers See Hijacker Killed

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) HIROSHIMA, May 13. Millions of Japanese television viewers today saw a policeman shoot and kill a young gunman 15 hours after he had hijacked a ferryboat, with its passengers and crew, and sailed round Japan’s inland sea, chased by armed patrol boats.

Viewers saw the youth, named as Nobubisa Kawafuji, aged 20. crash to the deck of the ferry off Hiroshima after being hit in the chest by a police marksman’s bullet

He died soon afterwards in hospital after an emergency operation. Armed with two rifles, a shotgun and a stolen police pistol, the youth commandeered the 180-ton ferry with 44 people aboard—in nearby Ujina at 5 p.m. A policeman and one bystander were wounded in a spray of the hijacker’s bullets as the ferry pulled away from the quay. The gunman then took his terror-stricken captives on a

50-mile voyage to the ferry’s other terminal, the city of Matsuyama, on Shikoku Island, where he ordered the vessel to be refuelled, but allowed all but the captain and seven crewmen to go ashore. Then he set sail for Hiroshima, where the police demanded his surrender. As television cameras showed the quayside drama, a single shot rang out, fired from 80 yards range, and the gunman fell sideways. Television pictures showed the hijacker in close-up, his face twisted in agony, as he crashed to the deck. During the wild sea chase, the police say, the youth, who was wanted for robbery and other offences, fired at pursuing patrol-boats.

He had refused to surrender.