The education ministry plans to conduct a probe of school operator Doshisha over a fatal boat accident that occurred last month during a study trip of a high school run by the organization, informed sources said Sunday.

On March 16, two vessels carrying three crew members and 18 second-year students from the Doshisha International Senior High School in Kyoto Prefecture capsized off the Henoko district in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, leaving a student and the captain of one of the boats dead and 14 others injured.

The boat ride was meant for viewing ongoing land reclamation work in Henoko for the planned transfer of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to the coastal district from its current site in Ginowan, another city in Okinawa. The base relocation within Okinawa has drawn criticisms in the prefecture and the capsized boats had been used by a local civic group as protest vessels.

The ministry found that the school¡¯s preliminary inspection and its prior explanations to parents were insufficient, and that teachers¡¯ supervision at the time of the accident was inadequate.

The ministry has worked to examine details of the accident and the high school¡¯s safety management through the Kyoto prefectural government, which oversees the school. As sufficient responses have not been received, however, the ministry decided to directly investigate the operator of the school, the sources said.

Ministry officials are expected to visit the operator within this month at the earliest to conduct hearings with its relevant staff. The ministry is also considering asking officials of the high school and the Kyoto government to attend the hearings.

On April 7, the ministry urged boards of education nationwide to ensure the safety of school field trips. It also called on the boards to review each school¡¯s emergency response manuals and confirm whether school activities are biased toward any particular thought in light of the purpose of the basic law on education.