A 74-year-old man was found dead after possibly being hit by snow falling from the roof of a barn in Oyabe City, Toyama Prefecture, on Saturday.
A neighbor of the man called police at around 1:30 p.m. on Saturday and said he had found his neighbor buried in snow, TV Asahi reported.
According to the police, Yoshinobu Sunada, who lived alone, was found lying face down beside a barn on his property. Most of his body was covered in snow when he was found.
Police said a snow plow was near where Sunada was found, and although it was turned on, it had run out of fuel and had stopped.
Police believe that Sunada died after being hit by snow that fell from the roof of the barn.
© Japan Today
9 Comments
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Tony W.
Being somewhat familiar with snow I find it surprising that snow alone, even if a fairly large amount, would kill someone if it fell on them off a roof. He might have passed out from the mental shock of the impact, and then suffocated under the snow. Real misfortune to happen though.
Renny
As someone familiar with snow and the conditions in Toyama I can easily see how this happened. The snow when it falls is soft but after a while it melts a bit and loses its softness and over night (it was a clear night last night so it was pretty cold) it would freeze really hard. A hard block of ice falling from height could easily kill someone
owzer
Rest assured, you are not nearly familiar enough with snow.
The_Beagle
People die. This seems to be relatively unknown to the masses who consume the "news".
The_Beagle
Nearly every koumuin I've met here has been completely willing to kill me.
WA4TKG
lol…stop that…lol
WA4TKG
Yeah, 74, out in the snow, hit in the head, I could see that happening
R I P…(it certainly won’t be how I go)
TaiwanIsNotChina
At least it was quick I presume. I guess sad for his family, though, who didn't get to say goodbye.
owzer
Maybe. Or maybe he was partially buried with more snow on his chest than he could move and he slowly suffocated to death. I hope not, but snow heavy enough to slide from a roof is heavy enough to cause a lot of damage. Some posters think snow is just a beautiful, light and powdery winter decoration that could do no harm. smh