A 10-year-old girl and her 4-year-old brother remained missing Monday after they were swept away while swimming in the Hida River in Gifu Prefecture, on Sunday.
According to police, the children were playing with their friends at the river's edge in Gero City at around 5 p.m. Fuji TV reported that the boy slipped and fell into the river. The girl went into the river to save her brother, but she, too, disappeared.
About 130 members of police and rescue teams, including divers, searched for the children until 9 p.m. Sunday and then resumed their search Monday, but the siblings remain missing.
Local residents said the river was swollen due to heavy rainfall in the area recently, Fuji reported.
© Japan Today
19 Comments
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gogogo
Parents?
Mirai Hayashi
Really...how stupid are the parents to let a 2 year play near a SWOLLEN river??!?!?!
Mocheake
What a brave thing the girl did. Let's pray that through some type of miracle they are found alive.
Disillusioned
How stupid are parent to let a two year old play near a swollen river? What parents? They weren't even there!
smithinjapan
And here we go again. That's what... four in less than that many days? Kids will play regardless of what parents say or do, and it's very true that parents cannot hover over their children at all times, but you would think they could instill in at least a 10 year-old a sense of danger when it comes to playing in or near rivers, ESPECIALLY after heavy rainfall. But nope. Instead we read about this kind of preventable accident daily, and lives are lost while others ruined.
RIP to the little ones.
CrazyJoe
Please keep an eye on your children when they're in the pool, river or sea. I pray that they're found safe.
tmarie
Were they swimming or did one fall into the river? Did anyone see the news coverage? Fast rushing water and no way should kids have been around the river let alone playing in it. Stupid parents.
marcels
Again , Here we go again, Where are the parents?? Probably drinking beer concentrating on their BBQ, instead of watching out for their children, I,ve seen it a hundred times already, from the beaches to the rivers, they have no idea about responsibility,,RIP little ones...
CrazyJoe
I don't know if any of you remember but that's the same river where two buses fell into and 104 people lost their lives back in 1968.
mjh875k
I hope they do find the children soon.
cramp
she shoulda gone asking for help instead of jumping in, brave though
all parents fault
hidingout
Well said Mocheake.
Cos
@CrazyJoe, you believe in ghosts ? My grand-parents were letting us believe that the "vouivre" existed, a woman that could transform herself into a big snake and grab you into the ponds and rivers. They tried to scare us, but we wanted to see her.
Neither according to other news. The girl was playing with 2 small kids on the banks in a small pond formed as the river had overflown the night before. The small ones had water till the knees and they were refreshing their feet, with their clothes on, not bathing. But the stream suddenly became stronger and waves overflew again. So the boy , then his sister have been swept away into the big river.
gelendestrasse
Sorry, I blame the parents. There are some places young children just should not be and the parents have to take responsibility to make sure they don't go there. Poor kids; let down by the adults again.
MarkG
Is it fair to blame the parents without details on what has happened? When I was 10 taking risks was what my friends and I did! It's how we learn. Do you remember when you were 10? Kids do dumb stuff!
darknuts
I hope the children are alright...
Elbuda Mexicano
I really doubt we will have any good news from this.
tmarie
Is it fair to blame the parents without details on what has happened? When I was 10 taking risks was what my friends and I did! It's how we learn. Do you remember when you were 10? Kids do dumb stuff!
I guess you forgot about the four year old!!
Elbuda Mexicano
IDIOT useless parents! Where in the hell were they?? Sure not around or close enough to have kept these poor kids away from danger!