The transport ministry is considering revoking the license of the operator of a tour boat that sunk off Hokkaido two weeks ago leaving 14 people dead and 12 missing, ministry sources said Saturday, marking what would be the heaviest administrative penalty ever imposed under the maritime transportation law.

Seiichi Katsurada, the president of Shari-based boat operator, Shiretoko Yuransen, submitted documents claiming he had at least three years of experience in operations, although he does not have a boating license and served as the company's operations manager, according to the sources.

Katsurada had also initially incorrectly told families of the victims that the captain of the boat was the operations manager, stating in distributed documents that "many aspects of the ship's operations were left to staff."