The families of 25 teens killed in the 2011 tsunami while they were at a driving school in Miyagi Prefecture reached a financial settlement with the school on Wednesday in a deal that also includes an apology from the latter over the deaths.
In the settlement mediated by the Sendai High Court, the school will pay ¥500,000 ($4,550) per student, or ¥12.5 million, a small sum compared to the roughly ¥1.9 billion in damages a lower court awarded the plaintiffs in a ruling in January 2015.
The plaintiffs had sued the driving school, located in the coastal town of Yamamoto, for failing to evacuate the students after tsunami warnings were issued following a powerful earthquake that hit on March 11, 2011.