Organizers blamed for deadly snow mountain accident in March

October 16, 2017

UTSUNOMIYA, TOCHIGI PREF.- A snow mountain accident that killed high school students during mountaineering training in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture, in March resulted from a lack of a sense of crisis among organizers, an investigation panel has said.

On March 27, seven students and one teacher of the eastern Japan prefecture's Otawara High School were killed and 40 people were injured in an avalanche during the training, which was organized by the prefectural high school athletic federation.

Teachers who led the training, if they had been experienced enough, would have recognized the possibility that many students progressing together on a ridge slope covered with fresh snow could be involved in an avalanche or fall from the slope, the panel said on Sunday.

In its final report on its investigation results, the panel, set up by the prefecture's board of education, pointed to the federation's sloppy practices, such as haphazard revisions to training plans and failure to keep a record of an avalanche accident during similar training seven years before.

The panel made a seven-point proposal on preventive measures, including enhanced training for people who lead such mountaineering training.

"We hope the prefectural board of education will create a system and an organization to ensure effective measures are taken," said Masaru Oku, who lost his son, Masaki, then 16, in the accident. Jiji Press