Tragedy Strikes National Project to Secure Vital Resources, Fend Off Chinese Claims

TOKYO, JAPAN - MARCH 31: Staffs of Japan Coast Guard salute as the bodies of the victims leave Tokyo International Airport on March 31, 2014 in Tokyo, Japan. Five workers were killed and two are missing after an unanchored pier section flipped over near the Okinotorishima islands, Japan's southernmost point, considered an important base for securing valuable mining resources. Only two small islands with a total land mass of about 10 square meters remain above the sea at high tide. However, the EEZ created by those islands is 420,000 square kilometers, equivalent to Japan's total land mass. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)