The Chidori Maru was a squid fishing boat operating north of Moneron on the night of incident. They had an eyewitness account of an aircraft crash within a few km of them and were interviewed both by the papers and TV reporters the following day. Interestingly Sy Hersh in his book “The Target is Destroyed” went out of his way to spread disinformation on this eye witness account, why? See notes later.
The Sept 2 morning edition of the Hokkaido Shimbun published this account from Captain Hayashi Shizuka.
Machine translation of the above article: Headline: Testimony of Chidori Maru Crew: Strange Sight Near KAL 007 Crash Site
Body Text: The fishermen of the Chidori Maru say they encountered an abnormal event in the early morning of September 1, 1983, near Moneron Island. They heard a sudden flash of light and a loud noise, and immediately stopped the boat. Debris and metal fragments were floating on the sea surface, accompanied by an unusual odor, they reported. One fisherman, Kenichi Sato, reflected, “It was like being on a battlefield,” revealing that he felt terror. Another fisherman testified that the floating objects appeared to be airplane parts, and although they attempted a rescue, they withdrew to avoid danger.
Michel Brun’s interpretation of what Captain Hayashi Shizuka said (Incident at Sakhalin, Page 27):- The Japanese fishing vessel Chidori Maru No. 58, operating out of Sakaiminato in Tottori Prefecture, was fishing for squid near the island of Moneron in the company of approximately 150 other Japanese ships based at Wakkanai. The ship was located at 46°34′ N, 141 °16′ E, 36km north of Moneron when, at 03:30 on the morning of September 1, the eight-man crew under the command of Capt. Shizuka Hayashi observed the destruction of an airplane. he men first heard the sound of its engines as the plane suddenly approached, but they were unable to determine the direction. The noise was immediately followed by a muffled explosion. For two or three seconds they observed an orange flame low on the horizon in an east-southeasterly direction. When the first flame disappeared from sight, they noticed a succession of orange flames, lasting five or six seconds, and at the same moment, they heard a second explosion, which was not as loud as the first. Five minutes later there was a smell of burned kerosene. The wind was blowing at five or six meters per second [10 to 12 knots], and despite the overcast sky, visibility extended for 10 to 20 km.
Iwao Koyama’s “The Missing Bodies” interpretation of the eyewitness account:– At about 3:30 a.m., I heard the roar of an airplane. I wondered why an airplane was flying so low in the middle of the night, and while I was thinking about this, the roar suddenly got louder and the airplane passed right over my head. Planes? I couldn’t see them. The squid fishing boats’ fishing lights were illuminating the area like it was daytime, so even if I looked up at the sky, the lights were blocking my view and I couldn’t see much above. Soon after, I heard a loud explosion in the distance, and then a flash of light appeared on the east-southeast horizon. It was an orange light. It lasted for two or three seconds, then I heard a smaller explosion, and then another orange light flashed across the sky. I think the whole thing lasted about five or six seconds. Sea. After a while, a very oily smell began to drift over the surface of the We all panicked. We wondered if the ship had an oil leak. We all checked the engine room and fuel tanks, but our ship was fine. The smell of oil started about ten to fifteen minutes after I saw It smelled like neither gasoline nor heavy oil. Later, I was made to smell a bottle of oil at the Coast Guard, and there was something that smelled the same as that time. This was Kerosene
Iwao Koyama’s slightly different account from the TV interview (Page 62, The missing bodies”):- Yesterday morning, I was catching squid 18.5 nautical miles (about 34 kilometers) north of Moneron Island. We were able to catch as many squid as we wanted, and the fishing was going well. We checked the ship’s position on radar every 30 minutes to make sure it wouldn’t be swept away by the tide. Even in pitch darkness, patrol boats would arrive as soon as we entered Soviet territorial waters. At about 3:30 a.m., I heard the roar of an airplane. I wondered why an airplane was flying so low in the middle of the night, and while I was thinking about this, the roar suddenly got louder and the airplane passed right over my head Planes? I couldn’t see them. The squid fishing boats’ fishing lights were illuminating the area like it was daytime, so even if I looked up at the sky, the lights were blocking my view and I couldn’t see much above. Soon after, I heard a loud explosion in the distance, and then a flash of light appeared on the east-southeast horizon. It was an orange light. It lasted for two or three seconds, then I heard a smaller explosion, and then another orange light flashed across the sky. I think the whole thing lasted about five or six seconds. After a while, a very oily smell began to drift over the surface of the We all panicked. We wondered if the ship had an oil leak. We all checked the engine room and fuel tanks, but our ship was fine. The smell of oil started about ten to fifteen minutes after I saw the explosion. It smelled like neither gasoline nor heavy oil. Earlier, I was made to smell a bottle of oil at the Coast Guard, and there was something that smelled the same as that time.
Hersh in his book, “Target is Destroyed” goes out of his way to distort the Chidori Maru account. By distorting the story so much he is clearly trying to cover up important details that the eyewitness account is giving.
Hersh clearly states that the Chidori Maru story didn’t surface till a few months after the incident and as such didn’t affect the search effort. A direct lie as it was public the day after the incident. He also goes out of his way to make the impression that the fishermen were poaching and didn’t want to disclose their presence in the area for fear of retribution. Another direct lie as they were fishing perfectly legally in international waters and the Soviets had granted the Japanese to fish in this area. They eventually spoke to senior U.S. Navy officers on the condition of anonymity, a condition the officers respected, and their reports remain highly classified to this day.. More lies as you can see in the published newspaper article.
Hersh also goes on to state that the boat and the captains logbook were soaked in Kerosene as a plane passed overhead. That is not what the fishermen stated..they said that about 5 minutes after they saw the flames low on the horizon they smelt kerosene. In addition, a captains log book would be inside the cabin so even if the boat was covered in kerosene the log book would be safely inside the cabin and not be “soaked”
Location Chidori Maru 46.5983, 141.2224
First heard engines of plane low but couldn’t see
Then heard an explosion
Then flash of orange light in the distance on the horizon in ESE direction that lasted 2-3 seconds.
Then another smaller explosion then another orange light flashed across the sky
Whole event took 5-6 seconds
Smell of Kerosene after 10-15 mins
Speed of sound at sea level at 15degC is 340m/S, maximum distance crash from Chidori Maru was 2 km in ESE approximately 46.5912, 141.2485 which matches reasonably with IACO official location.
This is in international waters so:-
1: The search effort should have easily located wreck and black boxes as water depth maximum 250m in international waters
2: The Japanese stated the aircraft disappear from radar at 18:29 at 29,000. So how can the plane fly low overhead then explode.
3: What is “flashing across the sky?” Missiles?