crime

3 teachers indicted over deaths of 8 in avalanche in 2017

17 Comments

Prosecutors in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, have indicted three teachers over the deaths of seven students and one teacher who were caught in an avalanche during a mountain climbing lesson on a ski slope in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture, in 2017.

Forty other students and teachers were injured in the avalanche that hit the group at around 8:30 a.m. on March 27, 2017, at Nasuonsen Family Ski Resort.

Prosecutors on Thursday indicted Shuichi Inose, 55, who was in charge of the group, and two other teachers, aged 59 and 53, for professional negligence resulting in death and injury, Sankei Shimbun reported. Prosecutors said the three teachers were lax in their safety measures by taking the students on a trek through deep snow, knowing that in the spring, there was a strong possibility of avalanches occurring.

A total of 52 students and 11 teachers from seven high schools were on a three-day mountaineering excursion when the disaster struck. A warning had been issued for heavy snow and possible avalanches in the area by the local weather agency.

The ski resort had already been closed after winter, but some of its facilities were made available for the high school mountaineering trip.

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17 Comments
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This was a totally unnecessary tragedy. This area was my favorite

for country skiing. Everyone around there knows that March is

very dangerous. I stop in mid-February because of unstable

snow, especially after there is rain, freezing and then a heavy

snow layer on top of the icy slope. I feel very sad for the loss

of lives and for the families.

18 ( +21 / -3 )

Good. The teachers should spend at least a few years behind bars. They had the warnings and also put inexperienced in snow teachers in charge. Was any of them, teachers and students wearing a beacon, by the way?

-9 ( +4 / -13 )

It's a mystery why this has taken so long, but this was that trip where the mountaineering clubs made the kids hike straight up a closed ski resort when avalanche warnings had been issued. If I remember it, none of the kids had avy gear. I don't think anyone in the mountains in winter deliberately wades through deep snow, you use skis or snowshoes to put a track in and rotate the person at the front, but the reports said wading is what the kids were there to practice.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Every trip can be dangerous because accidents are always going to happen. But you cannot spend your whole life hiding under a bed, and cannot cloth our children in cotton wool. From what I have seen of Japanese law, these teachers are now hostages for compensation money.

0 ( +6 / -6 )

I don't know enough about this case to know why the trip wasn't cancelled, but I do know that the 2020 Olympics weren't cancelled and neither have the 2022 Olympics. So, it would seem that perhaps money was involved. Perhaps the students had already paid for the trip and wouldn't be refunded by the resort so they went ahead with it. Maybe, just speculating.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

I wonder how much trouble the teachers would have been in if they had cancelled the trip. Teachers are often under a great deal of pressure to ensure things go according to schedule even if it goes against their better judgement. More needs to be done to ascertain where responsibility lies.

10 ( +14 / -4 )

I woulfd have thought that the organisation that runs the ski slope would alert of danger and instigate controlled avalanches to make it safe, before allowing anybody onto the slope.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

@Laguna

Exactly. No one there ever thought they would have the authority to cancel the trip. Who decides? Noone. Noone in Japan wants yo take any responsibility.

5 ( +9 / -4 )

The definition of an accident is an "Unplanned Event" if the teachers knew there would be an avalanche they wouldn't have decided to make the trip. If the parents knew there was going to be an avalanche they too would have not agreed on the trip, if the skii facility knew there would be an avalanche they would have closed the entire facility down. There's to many "IF" no one knew the consequences, but some knew of the possibility of their being a potential avalanche. This was an unfortunate event that just so happened. Who do you blame everyone that was involved in this unfortunate RISK.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

The definition of an accident is an "Unplanned Event" if the teachers knew there would be an avalanche they wouldn't have decided to make the trip. If the parents knew there was going to be an avalanche they too would have not agreed on the trip, if the skii facility knew there would be an avalanche they would have closed the entire facility down. There's to many "IF" no one knew the consequences, but some knew of the possibility of their being a potential avalanche. This was an unfortunate event that just so happened. Who do you blame everyone that was involved in this unfortunate RISK.

A very sensible comment. In advanced countries, a proper independent investigation into an accident takes place before anybody is indicated by a prosecutor. (In Japans case, a career minded bureaucrat, who seems to know nothing about rule of law).

0 ( +4 / -4 )

 The definition of an accident is an "Unplanned Event" if the teachers knew there would be an avalanche they wouldn't have decided to make the trip.

A warning had been issued for heavy snow and possible avalanches in the area by the local weather agency.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Shouldn’t the ski resort be more culpable than the teachers? It just sounds like a tragic accident.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Nature must be taken more seriously!!!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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