Victims Mourned 10 Years after Karuizawa Ski Tour Bus Crash

Karuizawa, Nagano Pref., Jan. 15 (Jiji Press)–Bereaved families on Thursday mourned the victims of a fatal ski tour bus crash in the town of Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, central Japan, 10 years ago. Together with his wife, Yoshinori Tahara, 60, head of a group of bereaved families, visited a memorial erected near the site to pay tribute to those who died in the accident. Tahara, whose 19-year-old son, Kan, was among the 15 fatalities in the accident, said, “I stand here today with both unchanged and some changed emotions.” He expressed his resolve in preventing the memory of the tragedy from fading, saying, “I’ll remain committed to continuing to share the story of the accident with a sense of mission.” Tsuyoshi Tsuchiya, 65, who, as a town hall official at the time, was tasked with liaison activities involving bereaved families, said that a decade has been “a long time for those left behind.” “I spent the last 10 years living with mixed emotions,” he added. The crash occurred after the bus veered off a road while traveling downhill at around 1:55 a.m. on Jan. 15, 2016, leaving 13 university students and two drivers dead, with 26 others injured. In June 2023, the Nagano District Court sentenced two individuals linked to the Tokyo-based bus operator ESP, including the company’s president, to prison for professional negligence resulting in death and injury. Both have pleaded not guilty and have appealed the ruling. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]