5-year-old boy drowns at spa facility in Hokkaido

Tuesday 13th January, 10:03 AM JST

HOKKAIDO —

A 5-year-old boy on Monday drowned at the spa facility Chateraise Gateaux Kingdom in Sapporo, police confirmed Tuesday.

According to police, the boy was found floating in the spa by an employee at 9 p.m. shortly after he went missing. Police said the boy came to the spa facility together with his parents and brother. His mother told police he went missing while they were in the large bath together.

Police said about 80 people were taking a bath at the time of the incident and that the water was not clear. The depth of the water was about 90 cm.

News reports

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Latest 15 of 17 Total Comments Show All

fantomas at 10:48 AM JST - 13th January

I read this message and I become more depressed than what I'm.. What a tragedy for the family....
herefornow at 10:57 AM JST - 13th January

Absolutely tragic. Prayers and condolences to the parents. Cannot imagine their level of pain and grief.
techall at 11:01 AM JST - 13th January

Why do I get the feeling that somebody helped this little boy drown? Maybe his frolicking was "meiwaku" for some nut case in the tub so he gets held under the murky water until he his no longer meiwaku?
smartacus at 11:08 AM JST - 13th January

techall

Don't let your imagination run away with you. It's likely that with 80 people in the bath, the boy might have received an accidental kick to the head while he was under.
techall at 11:14 AM JST - 13th January

smartacus: True, it wasn't Saitama.
beavis at 11:33 AM JST - 13th January

the water was not clear.

As per SOP, neither are the details of this story
Disillusioned at 12:21 PM JST - 13th January
It seems there was a lack of supervision in this spa. I know in swimming pools the lifeguards are fanatical about swimmer's safety. I wonder what went wrong here.
- The water was not clear - Yet another reason I have never and never will go to a spa (piddler's paradise) in Japan.
bamboohat at 12:55 PM JST - 13th January

Terrible.
Mz at 02:35 PM JST - 13th January

Disillusioned - you certainly seem to be. It's a spa not a swimming pool. Onsens are usually very very clean so your piddler's paradise comment is a bit unfair. Just because the water isn't clear doesn't mean it's dirty!
dennis0bauer at 03:27 PM JST - 13th January

Depends on the spring water they use if there is a lot of iron in the water it is reddish-brown, high sulpher content makes the water white and some sentou put herbs/green tea in the water giving it a green color.

but where were his brother and father when the kid drowned? the blame does not solely fall on the spa.
Disillusioned at 04:18 PM JST - 13th January

Mz - It's a spa not a swimming pool. Onsens are usually very very clean so your piddler's paradise comment is a bit unfair.

Exactly my point! If swimming pools are so strictly monitored why not these spas? It is blatently obvious it is as easy, if not easier to drown in a discolored water spa than it is in a clear swimming pool. As for swimming in a puddle of piddle, that's entirely up to you, but do think that sleazy old man next to you actually got out of the onsen to pee? Yuk!
PepinGalarga at 09:03 PM JST - 13th January

the lack of use of the bathrooms in sento's makes me think...

anyway, if the water has a lot of minerals it wont be clear. i'm just thinking 80 people couldnt have noticed? The only rational explanation is if the kid had a seizure, but that also would have attracted attention.

if anyone kicked the kid in the head while he was underwater (very unlikely at 42C) then that person should have said something.
Disillusioned at 10:31 PM JST - 13th January

The only rational explanation is if the kid had a seizure,

This is Japan. How about an irrational explanation? Some nutter actually drowned him! Far fetched, but not hard to believe.
grafton at 07:07 AM JST - 14th January

There’s absolutely nothing here to aid anybody making stuff up, it is just a very sad thing to have had happen.
whyamiinjapan at 11:22 AM JST - 14th January

I went to a bath the other night and couldn't see a thing because of all the steam. I guess that water was clear because it usually is. I could see some accidents happening. I saw kids going around by themselves although their fathers were around. But how long does it take for a kid to drown? If he swallows enough water, it may not take very long . . . too sad. Poor little kid and his family.