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6-year-old boy drowns after falling into irrigation ditch in Saitama

8 Comments

A 6-year-old boy drowned on Thursday while trying to catch crabs in an irrigation ditch in Misato, Saitama Prefecture.

According to police, a 7-year-old boy ran to a nearby police station to report that his friend had fallen into an irrigation channel nearby while they were playing, Fuji TV said. Police rushed to the scene and pulled the boy, who has been identified as Riki Iwashita, from the water.

Iwashita was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. Police said the channel was 1.3 meters in width, 1.5 meters deep and said that it did not have guard rails along its edges, Fuji reported.

Police said Riki had been attempting to catch crabs when he lost his balance and fell into the water.

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8 Comments
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Would somebody please explain why so many of these headlines have something to do with Saitama? I can't say I've ever gone there but it sounds awful.

It's not so much that there's anything terrible about Saitama, really. It's just that it's a pretty highly populated neighboring prefecture of Tokyo: a lot of people working in Tokyo live in Saitama. Add to that the relatively rural nature of much of the prefecture--less crowding, more dark streets, more rivers and ponds and forests in which crimes and accidents can happen, less police presence, etc.--and it's not really surprising that a lot of incidents seem to be happening in Saitama.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

It was fenced,the kids jumped inside ,hang their randoreru on the fence and well the rest is on the news.This kid was on his way back from school with his friends. This is so terrible sad,my son attend the same school,the same grade just another kumi. It was just a horrible accident.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Poor kid. Six years old. Tragic.

Would somebody please explain why so many of these headlines have something to do with Saitama? I can't say I've ever gone there but it sounds awful.

I agree that kids should all be taught how to swim. Swimming was part of gym class in my high school but that was a long time ago....

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Adults should not allow a situation to happen where children can play unsupervised at such a dangerous spot.

An ditch like the one described, unfenced and easily accessible to children, would be unthinkable in the UK.

Does nobody assess risks in Japan?

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Rest in peace.. too bad. I never let my kids play outside without me

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Please teach your kids how to swim! If you can't swim, take swimming lessons with them. This happens far too often. So tragic.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Terrible ending to a otherwise normal kid just being a kid. I hope people won't crucify the poor farmer because the lack of fences. RIP little boy.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

RIP young lad. Condolences to his loved ones.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

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