Habita workers sent in for cash died in Japan mall blast
Habita says two employees were told to return to Aeon Mall to secure cash after an earthquake, before a later explosion killed them.
By Lucas Ferreira · Science & Environment Writer
2 min read
Habita workers sent in for cash after an earthquake at Aeon Mall in Kumamoto later died when an explosion tore through the building, according to the company and BBC reporting. Habita, a general-goods retailer operating a store in the mall, has apologised and said the instruction should not have been given.
The two employees had left the mall after the 28 July earthquake, then were asked by a boss to go back inside to protect the store’s sales proceeds, the BBC reported. One worker, 22-year-old Kurumi Otake, told a relative outside the mall that she had been asked to move money from the cash register into a safe, according to the BBC.
Two Habita representatives later confirmed that account to Otake’s family and apologised at her wake, the BBC said. The other employee who died has not been publicly identified in the reporting supplied.
Why did the workers return to Aeon Mall?
The stated purpose was to secure cash from the Habita store after the evacuation, according to the BBC. Habita sales director Goji Yuse said the instruction was inappropriate and expressed regret, the BBC reported, while Al Jazeera said the company apologised to the families for defying evacuation protocols.
Habita is separate from Aeon, the operator of the shopping mall. Earlier reports said customers were evacuated following the initial earthquake, but some employees remained in the building when an explosion occurred roughly an hour later.
The cause of the blast has not been established. Reuters reported at the time that authorities were examining a possible gas explosion after rescuers smelled gas inside, while stressing that the investigation was continuing. The BBC likewise reported that the mall operator said the cause remained under investigation.
Initial casualty figures changed as rescuers worked at the site. The later BBC report said seven people died at Aeon Mall and that 38 people died across Kumamoto prefecture following the earthquake, while earlier reports had recorded lower totals during the rescue operation. Reports in the supplied coverage also differed on the quake’s magnitude, so this account does not treat either figure as settled.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.