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18-year-old girl killed after falling boulder crashes into car on mountain road

16 Comments

An 18-year-old girl was killed after the car she was riding in was hit by a falling boulder on a mountain road in Onan, Shimane Prefecture.

According to police, the incident occurred at around 4 p.m. on Wednesday. Fuji TV reported that Yumi Kurihara, a Yamaguchi University student, was sitting in the front passenger seat of a car being driven by her mother, when her side was hit by a one-meter-wide boulder that suddenly tumbled four meters down a slope on the road.

Police said Kurihara's mother sustained a light head injury. Yumi suffered extensive injuries and was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead.

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16 Comments
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May her family find peace!

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Wow! When your number is up, it is up! R.I.P.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

Hope the family could overcome this pain. Rest in piece, Yumi Kurihara.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Jeeeeezz... I can't even begin to imagine what the mother went through, seeing this and knowing it was just plain horrible luck. Extremely tragic loss of life. RIP. Although you see signs here and there and netting to protect from such things, you don't often hear about or see massive boulders falling outside of earthquakes and landslides being the cause. Although they might well often happen without such tragic results, and hence you never hear about them.

0 ( +6 / -6 )

I'm so sorry for the entire family, and of course, Yumi. RIP!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Terrible for the mother, but this is just one of these things --- nature always tries to kill us. Actually this is the way I hope go --- unexpected, and quick.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Terrible! It's impossible to imagine the heartache of the family. RIP to Yumi-san.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

So tragic. RIP, young lady. And deep condolences to the family.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I know Onan town well. Beautiful place, lovely people.

Been on many of those roads - never imagined a boulder rolling down.

Yumi must have just began uni in neighbouring Yamaguchi and came home for the holidays.

So Sad for all.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

What are the chances of that happening at that very moment?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I don't understand. Why would they release her name though she is (was) 18 years old, but other delinquents who are same age and a bit older (18-21) would have their names withheld because they are "minors"? Can someone explain this to me?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Sad indeed.This is a reason to hate this life the more! I hope her family will be strong and move on with a greater conviction to live each day like no other before.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Reinforces my belief that you are ever only one moment from death. Tragic,

But "18 year old girl"? Surely a young woman is a better description.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Photo of the car here:

http://pun6.com/Home/T/%e3%83%8b%e3%83%a5%e3%83%bc%e3%82%b9/m6i8o4wndhu5dli7di0zykw96nke9ln6zw7j5j9d

There was a pipe about 4 meters above the roadside which was ripped through, indicating that the boulder had fallen from further up the slope.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Very infortunate. May she rest in peace.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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