Body likely to be that of girl missing amid Noto floods, coast guard says

The body of a girl who went missing amid the unprecedented downpour on the Noto Peninsula, Ishikawa Prefecture, late last month has probably been found, the Japan Coast Guard said Tuesday.

The missing girl is Hanon Kiso, a 14-year-old junior high school third grader in the city of Wajima.

According to the JCG, the body of a woman or girl about 150 centimeters tall was discovered by a fishing boat in waters some 40 kilometers west of a port in Sakai in Fukui Prefecture, which neighbors Ishikawa, on Monday afternoon and recovered by the Fukui Coast Guard Station.

Clothing found on the body included a dark jersey shirt, and pants with the word “Kiso” handwritten on a name tag.

The overall death toll from the Sept. 21 flood has reached 13.

The JCG will conduct an autopsy to identify the body and determine the cause of the death, the officers said.