High school students stunned after avalanche suddenly struck in Tochigi - The Mainichi

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NASU, Tochigi -- High school students and others who survived a deadly avalanche that hit a ski slope here on March 27 appeared shocked as the disaster took place all of a sudden.

Deep snow that had piled up in the area hampered search and rescue operations while the parents of high school students who were staying in the area for a mountaineering workshop were worried about their safety.

Seven high school students and a teacher at Tochigi Prefectural Otawara High School were killed in the disaster that occurred at Nasuonsen Family Ski Resort in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture, on the morning of March 27, and 40 other people were injured, some seriously.

A 16-year-old student at Yaita Chuo High School, who was participating in the workshop, said he heard a man scream, when he was undergoing training in a forest near a ski slope.

He does not remember how he was hit by the avalanche. When he regained consciousness, he found himself buried in chest-high snow. He managed to escape and rescued other students who were also covered by snow.

The student said groups of other students at his club were undergoing similar training in various areas of the forest from around 7:30 a.m. The ground was initially covered with knee-high snow.

"The avalanche came all of a sudden. I don't remember what I saw and heard," said the student who appeared shocked.

The entrance to the ski slope was cordoned off, and rescue workers from a local fire department and Self-Defense Force members were seen going in and out of the area, carrying stretchers. At around 7 p.m., about 30 high school students who were standing by at the ski resort descended the mountain in a fire station vehicle.

The local fire department said its workers arrived at the ski resort shortly past 10 a.m. upon a police request. It took, however, about two more hours for the rescue workers to reach the avalanche-hit area because of deep snow.

They searched the area using shovels, but their operations were hampered by deep snow, which had reached waist high.

Takashi Murokoshi, a deputy section chief at the fire department, cited fears for further avalanches as the reason why it took rescue workers a long time to arrive at the affected area.

"There were fears that a fresh avalanche could occur, so we needed to be cautious. We selected a safe route to go to the affected area while receiving advice from a local mountain rescue unit," he said. The rescue work was completed at around 5 p.m., more than eight hours after the disaster took place.

The mountaineering club of Otawara High School, seven of whose members were killed by the avalanche along with a teacher, has participated in an inter-high school athletic meet for eight consecutive years. This academic year, the club was ranked seventh in the country.