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Two university students drowned while swimming in Lake Nojiri, Nagano Prefecture, police said Saturday.
According to police, an emergency call was received at around 5 p.m. on Friday from an individual claiming that a boy and a girl were feared drowned in the lake. TBS reported that police rushed to the scene and recovered the bodies of 20-year-old Takuya Yada and 18-year-old Chikako Noro from the water. The pair, who were both students at Komazawa University, were confirmed dead a short time later.
Around 60 members of the university's wind musical instrument club were staying at a dormitory near the lake as part of their Golden Week vacation, police said. A group of around 30 students swam out to Biwa Island in the middle of the lake and began playing in the water. A short time later it was noticed that Yada and Noro were missing.
Police say the deaths are not being treated as suspicious. The water was five meters deep where the two students went under.
© Japan Today
18 Comments
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Maria
Well, that is terribly sad - so young, barely started on life...
Sometimes, I stop to think about how suddenly people lose their lives - drowning, car crash, heart attack, even a 7-month diagnosis-to-death... Every second someone somewhere dies,who had barely lived.
Seriously, it freaks me out something awful...
nath
my heart and prayers to these kids :(
Kokuzi
Condolences to the families.
kuuku
R.I.P
UsagitoSaru
goodness how could they even enter that water! Nagano still feels like winter most of the time! I was out there wednesday and thursday and it was freezing cold.. I went to Biwako last year during golden week and just walking next to the lake was hardly bearable with a thin spring coat...RIP...I hope no more accidents happen this week..
sctaber56
How tragically sad. I spent a relaxing week at Nojiriko last summer. RIP.
yabits
The island is a good 200 to 300 meters from the nearest points on the lake shore, so it can seem deceptively easy to most decent swimmers. The leaders of this group of swimmers -- and there were leaders -- did something terribly wrong, which contributed to the deaths of two of their classmates. They will have plenty of time now to ponder over it.
I feel very sad for the parents and loved ones of the two.
BurakuminDes
Rest in Peace. Absolutely awful for their parents. God knows what happened - but at the medical Uni here in Fukushima, the freshmen have to do a swim in the river - usually in a pretty dodgy state after a drinking session - as club "initiation" I guess. I really hope this tragedy wasn't a result of such misadventure.
noriyosan73
Swimming lessons and proficiency would solve this problem.
yabits
The recognition that, with a group of 30, at that distance, and with temperatures being what they were, the odds that at least one swimmer would get into trouble increase to the point that it makes me shudder.
More than just swimming lessons, but lessons in life-saving in the water are critical here, as there was no lifeguard present. I deeply hope that everyone can have fun in the water, and that everyone knows the basics of how to become more aware of and handle emergencies so that everyone comes back safely.
This did not have to happen, and humans are not going to give up going in the water, nor should they. Please people: Learn from this tragedy so that it does not happen again.
Disillusioned
Man! That water would have been 12-15'! The whole group is lucky they didn't get hypothermia. I'm not gonna speculate or comment on the cause of this 'accident', but two very young lives were lost in a reckless pursuit. I guess most of us are guilty of doing similar things, but the majority survived. RIP kids! Sad news.
TheDevilsAssistant
Too young to die. I wonder if one died trying to save the other?
Rest in peace young ones.
Nessie
Yeah, sounds like the cold got them, not the distance.
Carcharodon
30 of them? I would have thought 5 seconds upon entering the water, they would have realized how frigid the alpine lake waters were in May and quickly bail from such foolhardy escapades - it's something Navy Seals would do for training. A waste of young life.
http://goo.gl/maps/bxBBk google map link, click on the little yellow "street view man" and drag him on the panaramio photo on the end of the wharf to get a good shot of how far the island is from the lakes edge.
Ross Lina Mohamad Fadzil
Lake water is unpredictable. Condolence to the family.