16-yr-old boy dies after jumping with 4 friends into canal in Tokyo

Tuesday 08th September, 02:12 PM JST

TOKYO —

A 16-year-old high school student died after jumping into a canal from a bridge in Tokyo, police said Tuesday. He took a 10-meter leap from the bridge in Ota Ward together with four other boys at around 10:30 p.m. Monday, and went missing after reaching out for help, according to the investigation.

Rescue workers found him submerged in water at around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, but he was pronounced dead soon afterward. ‘‘We got carried away,’’ one of the boys was quoted as telling the police.

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Latest 15 of 29 Total Comments Show All

bokudayo at 07:15 PM JST - 8th September

bobbafett at 05:51 PM JST - 8th September

just ten meters? anyone can survive that jump unless of course he could not swim then there should be a whole new set of questions.

Let's not go jumping to any conclusions. If the water were not deep enough, one could injure one's legs, weakening you enough to drown.
memyselfI at 08:19 PM JST - 8th September

Wow !! Great comments guys, this ever happen in your country. Some foolish teenager does something of a dare. Or shows off in front of his friends. Wow !!! Boys will be boys !!!!! Teenagers will experiement wand do foolish things. Have your ever done foolish things when you was a teenager ? Or peer pressured to do something anything ?

Take it easy with the comments.
DerekJ at 08:47 PM JST - 8th September

Sometimes, I wonder how I survived my youth. Boys will be boys and unfortunately that leads to tragedy at times. RIP
Jbizzle at 08:56 PM JST - 8th September

RIP just being a regular teenage boy. Sad accident.
Klein2 at 09:59 PM JST - 8th September

You know, it is just a matter of knowing the drill. Friends used to do this in spillways and quarries. 15 or 20 meters is not necessarily dangerous. I have jumped from those heights, but rule number one is that you must have 3 to 5 meters of water depth, with an extra 2 meters of depth for every 5 meters of altitude above 15. A clean entry into the water means less pain, but you need more depth. A flat entry will give at least bruises on impact with the water, but you do not need such great depth. Jumping from 15 meters will almost suck the hair off of your head if you enter feet first.

There are levels of idiocy. I would say that jumping in head first is number one on the list. Break your neck and get paralyzed, and you can drown in a bathtub. The obvious next level of idiocy is jumping into water of unknown depth. Jumping at night is also risky because it is hard to gauge where the water surface is. A belly flop from that height is likely to stun someone. Finally, jumping without a spotter in the water means that the jumper has to jump and then swim to safety, which ... well... was impossible in this case. It is just bad news. Water deep enough to jump into is easily deep enough to drown in or get swept away. If it was not deep enough, then he was risking injury on impact with the canal bottom.
animallover at 11:15 PM JST - 8th September

The young boy appparently did not make the difference between fun and suicide. It is a crazy age.. My deep sympathy for his family.
sakurasuki at 11:23 PM JST - 8th September

quote from Titanic, " You Jump I Jump" it's supposed only for two people, not four!
ptolemy at 11:58 PM JST - 8th September

Very good memyself,

Yes I did in high school. Same thing into the Chicago River. I almost crushed my left heel. I got dared and did exactly as this boy did. I got lucky I suppose. It's not just boys either, my daughter took a dare plunge into the Oyodo River here in Miyazaki dared by class mates. Like father like daughter I guess, but at least the Oyodo is three times deeper than the Chicago River in central Chicago.

RIP laddy, I did stupid things too, it is part of being a kid. Some are luckier than others, so I have no room to slam you post-mortem.
Icewind007 at 02:42 AM JST - 9th September

Yeah, this is normal stuff that all boys like to do (including me when I was young). Just an unfortunate accident that I hope will not tighten laws or rules. Something like this can happen with any rough play.
Fadamor at 04:18 AM JST - 9th September

Yes, we all had childhoods. Yes, we all did stupid things even though we were warned about it. And yes, this is nothing more than kids being kids without a safer alternative to occupy their evenings. A tragic end to a night of boredom.
bdiego at 06:04 AM JST - 9th September

The boy basically died of drowning after being "carried away". Things like this happen less these days than decades ago, but ironically are reported in the national and international news a lot more. Most people simply correlate the news with how often something actually happens.
Apsara at 09:52 AM JST - 9th September

just ten meters? anyone can survive that jump

As I said above, a ten metre fall into water caused a fractured vertebra in my brother- he was also very winded from landing flat on his back on the water, and could easily have died if he had been swept away. You try jumping ten metres into water and landing flat on your back, or possibly hitting your head on the bottom, and see if you still think anyone can survive it.
frontandcentre at 10:02 AM JST - 9th September

If it's like most of the canals in Tokyo, he probably dissolved on contact...
AK619 at 11:22 AM JST - 9th September

16 years old and dead. I faced that a few times, at eleven years old almost got shot by a gangster. RIP.
bgaudry at 03:08 PM JST - 9th September

if all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do it to?

My mother said this to me several times in my childhood. Peer pressure and giggles run most teenage boys lives. This kid got the rough end of it, RIP.