Three Teachers Jailed After Japan Avalanche Kills Eight

1st June 2024

The accident happened during a high school training program in Tochigi Prefecture in 2017.

The three defendants conducted training in deep snow near the Chausudake mountain without necessary safety precautions, despite the risk of an avalanche following snowfall the previous night.

They were members of the Tochigi Prefectural Otawara High School mountaineering club.

The avalanche killed seven students and one teacher.

Presiding Judge Toshifumi Takioka said the defendants,  Shuichi Inose, 57, Hisao Sugamata, 55, and 61-year-old Hironori Watanabe, should have been more aware of  the risk of an avalanche.

He said “It was a man-made disaster caused by a serious degree of carelessness.”