Lifestyle Pets Japan High-Speed Ferry Hits Whale, More Than 80 Passengers Injured By Collision The ferry, traveling to Japan's Sado Island from the port of Niigata, still arrived at its destination on time By Kelli Bender Kelli Bender Kelli Bender is the Pets Editor at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2013. Her work has previously appeared on MTV, The Frisky, Vice, and Best Friends Magazine. People Editorial Guidelines Published on March 11, 2019 02:46PM EDT Photo: Kyodo News/AP A high-speed hydrofoil ship traveling through the Sea of Japan hit an unexpected problem on Saturday. According to BBC, the ferry was traveling to Sado Island from the port of Niigata when it hit an object believed to be a whale. The collision left a 6-inch crack in the boat’s stern and injured more than 80 passengers out of the 121 passengers onboard, including 13 serious injuries, reports UPI. The ferry still reached its destination on time. Once the vessel reached Sado Island, the ferry’s seriously injured passengers were taken to a nearby hospital. The ferry operator, Sado Steam Ship Co., apologized for the incident. Shinichiro Ikeguchi, the vice director of the municipal aquarium in Japan’s Joetsu City, told NHK that both mink and humpback are currently migrating through the area where the collision occurred.