A message from the Japanese Embassy in London which reached the Foreign Office here at 440 o'clock this morning, reported that, all lives were saved.
Judging from all available information there was no doubt that the 11,930-ton vessel struck a German mine, authorities of the British Admiralty announced. The message from the Japanese Embassy, however, stated that the cause of the disaster was unknown. The location of the sinking was not near any mine field laid by British naval forces, the British Admiralty said. Sinking of the liner was believed to have been caused by a submarine mine laid in the English channel. Investigations by the Japanese Naval Attache's office in London in ce-operation with the London branch of the Nippon Yusen Kaisha also led to this belief although no notification of the mine had been received by Japan.
Japanese naval authorities belief that the sinking of the Terukum Maru was caused by a mine was based on the fact that the ship and the Mito Maru, freighter, received directions from British naval authorities, and that the Mito Maru and Terukuni Maru had British pilots who should havê been well acquainted with the conditions of the course and that the disaster took place in day time while a floating mine would have been easily recognized.
"The Terakuni Maru crew will be sent to Japan by the Suwa Maru," Mr. Kazue Kanakura, manager of the London branch of the Nippon Yusen Kaisha, said. "Having been late in arriving at the destination, the Mito Maru, which had preceded the Terukuni Maru, escaped disaster."
Total Insurance Loss Japanese newspapers featured news of the sinking under streamer headlines. Several morning newspapers issued extras when the news reached Japan at 135 o'clock this morning. The Terukuni was the first Japanese merchant vessel to be sunk since the outbreak of the European war, Insurance companies, following a meeting of representatives this morning, (Continued on page 8, coh 4)
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.