Bereaved families and others mourned the victims of an avalanche that occurred during a school mountaineering workshop in Tochigi Prefecture in 2017, in a memorial ceremony held Saturday before the eighth anniversary of the accident.
The ceremony, held at Tochigi Prefectural Otawara High School, was attended by about 50 people, also including officials of the education board and the high school athletic federation of the eastern Japan prefecture, who offered silent prayers before the cenotaph inscribed with the names of the eight victims — seven students and one teacher of the high school in the city of Otawara in Tochigi.
Masamitsu Sato, 55, who read a memorial tribute at the ceremony, said he still lives with the emptiness of having lost his son, Kosuke, then 16, in the incident, adding, “Our grief remains unchanged after eight years.”
The avalanche occurred near a ski resort at the foot of Mount Chausu in the town of Nasu in Tochigi, on the morning of March 27, 2017. The students who were members of the high school’s mountaineering club and the teacher were killed while practicing walking on snow, and many more were injured.
In May last year, Utsunomiya District Court concluded that the danger of an avalanche was fully predictable, and sentenced three teachers to two years in prison for professional negligence. The three have appealed the ruling.
