Death of China Kawamoto

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On September 5th, China Kawamoto, a 3-year-old girl, was found in the kindergarten bus of the Certified Children's Center "Kawasaki Kindergarten" in Shizuoka PrefectureMakinohara City. Abandoned and died due to heat stroke.

Overview

At around 14:10 on September 5, 2022, a staff member found a China Kawamoto unconscious in a school bus parked at a certified child center in Makinohara City, Shizuoka Prefecture. She was immediately reported and taken to a hospital, but was confirmed dead around 3:35 p.m. on the same day. The girl went to kindergarten on this bus around 8:50 a.m., and is believed to have been abandoned for about 5 hours.

The kindergarten bus was an 18-passenger one-box car, carrying two staff members including the driver and six kindergarten children. On this day, the usual driver was absent, so the male director in his 70s was driving.

Victim

The 3-year-old girl who died was said to have just entered the kindergarten; she started going to kindergarten by bus from the second semester because she said that the bus was fun. Her father told her to "sit quietly until the teacher tells her to". It has been pointed out that she may have followed her instructions and remained on the bus until the end, waiting to be called by the staff.

The girl was sitting in the fifth row from the front (the second row from the back), but was found lying at the feet of the third row from the front. At the time of her discovery, her body temperature had risen to around 40 degrees. About three hours after she was left in the car, she was thought to have died before noon.

An empty water bottle was found in her school bus, and clothes that she had taken off by herself were left behind in the seat near the doorway.

Cause

According to a press conference held by Kawasaki Kindergarten on September 7, the male principal who was driving as a substitute driver had only driven the bus a few times, and was in a hurry because he had plans to meet at the hospital after arriving. After acknowledging that he had neglected to confirm safety, the head of the park (chairman) who was driving the bus indicated his intention to resign, and it became clear that there was a possibility that he would proceed with the procedures for closing the park.

On September 13th of the same year, it was found that the male director had resigned as both the director and the director on September 8th.

The park had been closed since the accident, but reopened on October 3 of the same year after taking safety measures. However, about 10% of the children are planning to transfer, and as of September 29, 17 out of 167 children had completed the transfer procedures.

Government

A similar incident occurred in Fukuoka Prefecture Nakama City in July 2021 of the previous year (Nakama City nursery school bus death of a 5-year-old child). In August, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare issued a notice requesting thorough safety management, such as checking the number of people when getting on and off the bus and before and after outside activities. In response to this accident, on September 6, 2022, Katsunobu Kato, Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare, said, "I would like to immediately consider what kind of response can be taken in the future." indicated. In addition, we have issued another notice to ensure thorough safety management.

On September 7, 2022, arrangements were made to establish a working team consisting of the Cabinet Office, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. We examined specific safety measures such as creating a manual for picking up and dropping off buses, and decided to install safety devices on all kindergarten buses throughout Japan as one of the measures.

From 2023April 1, the government mandated the installation of safety devices to prevent people from being left behind on buses. Subject to work order in case of breach of duty Government emergency measures on kindergarten buses|newspaper=Jiji Press|date=2022-10-12|accessdate=2023-04-02}}</ref>.

See also: Abandoned child on bus § Government

Shizuoka Prefecture

On September 8, 2022, Shizuoka Prefecture announced a policy to audit Kawasaki Kindergarten for special guidance. In addition, it has decided to conduct a simultaneous survey of the operation status of buses and safety management systems for kindergartens and nursery schools that own shuttle buses in the prefecture.

Police

Shizuoka Prefectural Police on September 6, 2022, the day after the incident, on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in death and injury, the kindergarten and the home of the principal were searched. Started. On December 5, the Shizuoka Prefectural Police sent documents to the public prosecutor's office on suspicion of professional negligence causing death to four people, including the former principal and the class teacher at the time.

reputational damage

A factory run by a person unrelated to the director of Kawasaki kindergarten was posted on the "director's parents' house" and on the Internet summary site, etc. [[rumor #hoax].

See also

• Child abandoned on bus
• Nakama City Nursery School Bus Death of 5-Year-Old Child - A similar case occurred last year in Nakama City, Fukuoka Prefecture
• Kishiwada Passenger Car 2-Year-Old Girl Death Case
• Heat Stroke / Heat Stroke

References

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