6-year-old boy, 54-year-old man die while hiking in Zao

Monday 13th July, 05:53 AM JST

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13 Comments

koneko22 at 07:06 AM JST - 13th July

Prayers for both families, who lost their loved ones.
sharky1 at 07:50 AM JST - 13th July

Tragic
spudman at 09:47 AM JST - 13th July

Prayers for both families, who lost their loved ones. indeed
Klein2 at 09:58 AM JST - 13th July

With so many kilometers of paths in some of these rugged areas, there is just no way to put fences and ropes, etc. up everywhere. People have got to be careful when they go to these places. Despite the beautiful views and the great experience of nature, there are places that are not meant for 6 year olds. It is so sad because it is so understandable.
jigjapan at 02:11 PM JST - 13th July

so sad..anyway for the rest that savor the spring and summer season...you must take an extra care...
Ah_so at 05:13 PM JST - 13th July

While 6-year olds cannot be wrapped up in cotton wool, they are just too young for hiking in places such as this. They do not have the attention span and awareness to be safe on such adverntures. I have been to Zao a couple of times, and it is pretty treacherous.

The group leader did an honourable thing in following the boy in, but he should have questioned whether such a young child should ever have been on that hike before starting offf.
Antonios_M at 09:10 PM JST - 13th July

That's a very sad story. The 6 year old boy shouldn't have been there though.
usaexpat at 11:44 PM JST - 13th July

sad, I think the boy was probably too young to be hiking there as others have said.
Icewind007 at 03:13 AM JST - 14th July

With so many kilometers of paths in some of these rugged areas, there is just no way to put fences and ropes, etc. up everywhere.

Also, if it were part of a national park, they wouldn't be able to put stuff up like that. I wouldn't go so far as to say that a young child shouldn't be hiking in a place like that. Some of my fondest memories were hiking in mountains when I was younger in the US (anyone heard of boy scouts? they do it all the time!). Of course children make bad judgments and have to be kept in line; people just has to respect nature and all of its dangers.
homealone at 05:26 AM JST - 14th July

As others have said, a 6-yearold had no business there.
Klein2 at 09:19 AM JST - 14th July

Icewind, I won't dispute what you are writing there, but as we would agree, there are 6 year olds, and then there are 6 year olds. I can think of two right off the bat... one would be no problem, but another would be just as likely to run into a bear cage as throw himself off a cliff. Every year, how many people fall into the Grand Canyon? These are adult tourists, strangely they are mostly Germans from what I understand..

Of course I am definitely not saying that someone should make an age limit or put up retaining walls, but anyone who takes little kids to these sheer rock faces should know that they are rolling the dice. I would think that HOLD MY HAND would be the minimum, and probably sufficient, precaution. I have lived my whole life in mountainous areas and have never once tumbled down a gorge. I think none of my family has.
darkmanv at 11:11 AM JST - 14th July

so sorry . could they not at the minimum take a safety rope or hold onto poles or staffs for support . no need to install fences . just copy mountain climbers ??
Klein2 at 02:04 PM JST - 14th July

I am not exactly sure of what particular area of Zao is being mentioned, but it is not what you think. There are sheer rock faces and then there are normal paths where you would probably not stub your toe. Taking ropes and poles would seem like overkill, I am sure, except for a few places where, if a kid got out of hand, they would take a death plunge.

The article mentions that the 54 year old man was a guide, which means maybe that this was a tour, so such equipment was deemed superfluous for this ostensibly safe area; and it is unlikely that the hikers would have known how to use the equipment properly anyway.

Within 15 kilometers of Mt. Zao itself, there must be a thousand areas where someone could die from a fall, but that is something like 200 square kilometers, so... well... this is news because it does not occur so often. Some of the locals where I live say that this is happening increasingly because of "sheeple", meaning that urban dwellers are increasingly ignorant of common sense when confronting nature. "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread...," is the saying that fits here probably.