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12-year-old girl dies after colliding with snowboarder

16 Comments

An elementary school student has died after colliding with a snowboarder at a ski resort in Kitahiroshima city in Hiroshima Prefecture.

According to police, the accident occurred at around 11:45 a.m. on Tuesday when Erina Kondo, 12, an elementary school student who was taking part in a ski lesson organized by her school, collided with a 38-year-old snowboarder at the Geihoku Kokusai ski resort, Sankei Shimbun reported.

The girl was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead approximately two hours later. The snowboarder suffered neck and spine injuries, but is conscious and his condition is not life-threatening.

Police said that at the time of the accident, Kondo had been skiing on the resort’s beginner course and was wearing a helmet, adding that the weather at the time was sunny with clear visibility ahead.

There were 63 other students and 12 teachers at the site.

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16 Comments
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the snowboarder must have been going at pretty high speed to cause such an injury, and did he veer into the bunny slopes? what a tragic accident.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

"Police said that at the time of the accident, Kondo had been skiing on the resort’s beginner course and was wearing a helmet, adding that the weather at the time was sunny with clear visibility ahead."

No details to say for sure either way, but it sounds like the snowboarder was on the wrong hill, and it is his and the resort's fault for allowing him to be on the hill in the first place when, at that speed, he should have been on another. Of course, it's possible he too was a beginner, lost control, and could not stop and hence the accident, so again without details it's impossible to say. All I can say is RIP to the little girl.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Tv news last night said that the girl was speeding and she crashed into the guy. Either way a sad story out of what it was supposed to be a fun day.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Negligence by the skier, most likely. What a waste of 12 years of life.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

More info please, did he crash into her head? what is the situation?

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Very very sad news. Having worked many seasons teaching in this country I can say that there is no priority placed on group safety - The MOST important thing was having the group back on time. Not wanting to speculate but it is possible the instructor took class underneath a roll over used for air trick practice by snowboarders who need a certain amount of speed to complete said tricks. As Smith said RIP to the little girl.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Snowboarders and skiers should stay far apart from each other......

1 ( +2 / -1 )

She was on a bunny run, taking ski lessons when she crashed into a snowboarder. It's hard to imagine her being able to go so fast as to cause her own death and causing neck and spine injuries to a full grown 38 year old man.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

A beginner skier who forgets how to slow down can reach a high speed even on a "bunny slope". A 70 pound projectile traveling 30-40 mph is going to do some damage to someone who isn't expecting the impact. And even though she was wearing a helmet, that impact and fall could just as easily broken her neck. Helmets actually make neck injuries even more likely because of the additional weight placed above the neck.

No, this isn't "negligence" on anyone's part. It's just a tragic accident that took the life of a young girl.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

As a terrible snowboarder, this is a huge fear of mine. Kids tend to move in unpredictable ways. Im sure the skiier should have been more cautious in the bunny zone, but i also sympathize with the skiier, cause i can see this heppening to me

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

My God how terrible. Her poor family must be devastated.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Snowboarder should have been practicing on the bunny slope too, not flying into it at a high and obviously uncontrolled speed.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

I have skiied and snowboarded at this resort. There is no "bunny slope". There is a beginner and a not so beginner course side by side, and both you can pick up a good amount of speed if your not careful or untrained. At a few points the trails converge. Both of these trails can, at times become very crowded. It is not uncommon to have to perform evasive manuvers or bail all together because of others cutting infront of you or wipping out in the middle of the trail. Sad to say, I am not suprised that this occured as I have seen collisions happen before. It is very saddening that this little girl lost her life though.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Kris is right. I've been to that particular ski resort and was pretty shocked at the poor slope etiquette displayed by just about everyone. Groups of 5-6 people just plop down literally in the middle of the run just to rest or chat or whatever. They don't even bother bunching up either, they sit 5-6 across, forcing people to make sharp turns to the outside of the slope. I can't speak to other ski resorts as this one was the only one I've been to, but it was far more frustrating than fun. Obviously I have no idea if that kind of behavior resulted in this particular accident, but I am surprised this kind of thing doesn't happen more often. I feel terrible for that little girl, her family, and her classmates. There's also a pretty good chance that this will result in next year's elementary school ski excursions being cancelled.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

and the 38 year old guy is now in coma, with a broken neck

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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