The leader of a mountaineering excursion held by a high school in Tochigi Prefecture said Wednesday that instructors thought the conditions were good enough to conduct training before an avalanche killed seven students and a teacher.
"At the time, we thought it was absolutely safe" to practice traversing deep snow that Monday morning, said Shuichi Inose, chairman of the mountaineering committee at the prefecture's high school athletic federation.
"Currently, I have to reflect on" the fact that the avalanche occurred, Inose told a news conference in Tochigi Prefecture. "I regret deeply the consequences."