- Two workers died in a gas explosion after re-entering a mall post-earthquake
- The 6.8-magnitude quake in Kumamoto killed 38 people, including seven at Aeon Mall
- Workers initially evacuated but returned to secure cash as instructed by their boss
Two Japanese workers died in a suspected gas explosion after their boss instructed them to go back into a damaged shopping mall to secure the day's cash takings, minutes after surviving a powerful earthquake. The two were among 38 people who died in a 6.8-magnitude earthquake that hit Kumamoto prefecture on July 28. Seven of the fatalities were from Aeon Mall.
One of the two workers has been identified as 22-year-old Kurumi Otake, while the name of the other employee has not been made public, according to a report in BBC.
Goji Yuse, the sales director of general goods store Habita, who instructed the duo to retrieve the money, had apologised for their actions.
"The instructions given at the time were inappropriate, and I truly regret them," said Yuse, adding: "Looking back now, it was not worth a life."
The two employees had initially evacuated to a parking lot outside the facility after guiding customers to safety. However, after being told to retrieve the cash and stash it in a safe, they re-entered the building around 5:35 pm local time.
"If she hadn't gone back inside the store at that time, Kurumi would still be with her family today," one of Otake's relatives said.
Habita, founded in 1976, currently operates more than ten stores across several prefectures in Japan.
Japan Earthquake
Japan is one of the world's most seismically active countries, sitting on top of four major tectonic plates along the western edge of the Pacific "Ring of Fire".
The archipelago, home to around 125 million people, typically experiences hundreds of jolts every year and accounts for about 18 per cent of the world's earthquakes.
The vast majority are mild, although the damage they cause varies according to their location and the depth below the Earth's surface at which they strike.
