Pool safety official says he replaced rusty wires prior to schoolgirl's death
Mainichi Daily News
August 3, 2006
FUJIMINO, Saitama -- An official in charge of safety measures at a city-owned swimming pool, where a young girl died after being sucked into a water pump inlet, has told investigators he replaced rusty wire that fixed covers on three of the inlets in June, police said.
"When we received the contract to manage the pool in June, I replaced the wires fixing the covers onto water pump inlets because they had rusted," the 36-year-old official was quoted as telling investigators. "I did it myself."
The practice runs counter to government guidelines for swimming pool safety, which stipulate that covers must be fixed to water pump inlets with bolts.
Investigators are questioning the 36-year-old official, suspecting that the company that manages the swimming pool had taken sloppy safety measures.
The official is an employee of a subcontractor of the company commissioned by the municipal government to operate the Oi Swimming Pool where the fatal accident occurred on Monday. The company farmed out the work to the subcontractor without permission from the city authorities.
Moreover, it has emerged that of the six covers on the pool's three water pump inlets, only one was properly fixed with four bolts.
Two covers, each measuring 60 centimeters by 60 centimeters, are fixed to each of the three inlets, which are 50 centimeters in diameter. The left cover had come off the inlet which 7-year-old Erika Tomaru was sucked into while the four corners of the right cover were properly fixed with bolts. The other covers were either fixed with wires or with both wires and bolts. (Mainichi)