The president of Habita, the company operating a store inside Aeon Mall Kumamoto, has admitted to instructing employees to go back inside the building to retrieve sales proceeds before an explosion killed two of them, according to 西日本新聞me.
The blast occurred after a magnitude 7 earthquake struck Kumamoto, the outlet reports. The two employees who died had returned to the store after the initial quake, following the president’s directive to secure cash from the register and place it in the safe, according to coverage from FNN Prime Online and TBS NEWS DIG.
西日本新聞me reports that the Habita president has apologized publicly for the order. At a funeral service for one of the victims, a company representative said the instruction was “not something worth trading a life for,” according to Sankei.
Family members of the deceased have expressed anger, with one relative telling FNN that they consider the deaths a “man-made disaster.” The mother of one female victim told TBS that her daughter went back specifically because she was told to put money in the safe, and she spoke of the pain of losing her child that way.
The incident has drawn attention to the dangers of post-earthquake re-entry into damaged buildings, particularly when commercial operations are prioritized over safety. The explosion itself occurred amid ongoing challenges in the affected area, including extreme heat and water outages, as noted by TBS.
Watch for whether investigators determine the exact cause of the blast and whether Habita faces legal or regulatory consequences for the instruction that preceded the deaths.
