KANAZAWA--Two tugboat crewmen drowned Monday morning after their vessel capsized in high waves at Wajima Port in Ishikawa Prefecture.

The 19-ton No. 12 Kitamaru capsized at about 7:35 a.m. It was one of two tugboats that were about to pull the Miura, a training ship of the Japan Coast Guard School in Kyoto, away from Wajima Port Marine Town.

Tugboat captain Kazuyoshi Mizutani, 63, and crew member Hirose Wakamitsu, 46, were thrown into the sea. A search by the training ship and patrol boats of the regional coast guard found them near the breakwater of the quay.

Mizutai and Wakamitsu were pulled out of the sea by firefighters and others who rushed to the scene, but they were confirmed dead.

According to the Nanao Regional Japan Coast Guard Headquarters, the training ship called at the port on Sunday, and the two tugboats were trying to pull it away from the quay on Monday for its departure.

According to the Kanazawa Local Meteorological Observatory, strong wind and wave warnings were in effect for the sea around Wajima at the time of the accident.

Waves off Wajima were relatively high--from 2.5 meters to 3 meters--and wind speed was 10 meters per second.