Teen worker falls from bridge into Seto Inland Sea

Wednesday 02nd April, 10:11 AM JST

KAGAWA —

A 16-year-old youth, who was painting the Seto-Ohashi bridge between the mainland and Shikoku, on Tuesday fell some 70 meters into the Seto Inland Sea. Police and the Coast Guard have been searching for him but he was still missing Wednesday morning. According to police, Kenji Sakano, 16, accidentally fell when he was trying to get on the gondola that transports workers to the bridge and back.

Police say the labor standards law prohibits minors under 18 from working in places more than 5 meters high. Police are questioning the company about the incident, and local labor authorities are investigating the circumstances of Sakano’s employment.

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8 Comments

Altria at 10:32 AM JST - 2nd April

Jobs maintaining that bridge pay really well, apparently, due to the danger. You can get more than 10,000 yen per lightbulb changed.
sukebeoyagi at 02:37 PM JST - 2nd April

My take was along the route of what's a '16 year old doing painting a bridge'. Nothing to do with the stupidity of the guy. More a statement along the lines that, such dangerous work and so young, surprised he's not an immigrant worker..
wanderlust at 03:55 PM JST - 2nd April

"missing" in the sea for more than a few hours here invariably means dead.

A 70m fall to the sea would have probably knocked him out, if not killed him outright.

3K work still going in Japan...
Sidwarwick at 05:43 PM JST - 2nd April

70m - I reckon he would have burst on impact, not simply been knocked out.
Starviking at 06:11 PM JST - 2nd April

Once again, JGov - look up 'Safety Culture' in the dictionary and implement some measures. Oh, sorry - I forgot your capabilites...JGov get someone to look up 'Safety Culture' in the dictionary and get someone smart to implement some measures.
bushlover at 10:12 AM JST - 4th April

[and local labor authorities are investigating the circumstances of Sakano’s employment] Since when do local labor authorities actually do anything to protect workers? Or is after the fact of death an exception?
borscht at 09:01 AM JST - 5th April

Getting on a gondola that takes workers to the bridge and back. Is this gondola running parallel to the roadway? Or is it going up one of the towers? I'm pretty sure children under 10 can get to the bridge and back without a gondola, so I guess JT needs to convey more information to the reader. Sorry to see a 16-year-old's life was wasted painting a bridge.