The number of people with dementia in Japan who were found dead after going missing totaled 491 in 2024, according to National Police Agency (NPA) data.
Of that total, 382 of them, or 77.8%, were discovered within 5 kilometers of the places where they disappeared, according to the data. About half of the total were discovered within a kilometer.
According to the NPA, 18,121 people with dementia or suspected of having dementia went missing in 2024. Most of them were found within a week after missing person reports were filed.
The most common locations where dementia sufferers were found dead were in or near a river (115 people), followed by irrigation channels and gutters (79), and mountains and forests (71). These locations accounted for 54% of the total, suggesting that many are believed to have drowned or died after a fall.
However, the data also indicates that in 111 cases, people who were declared missing were later rescued thanks to GPS or other tracking devices attached to their clothing.
"A swift response leads to safe rescues," an NPA official said, calling for the use of GPS or other devices as some municipalities lend them for free.
Some people fell in the mountains or traveled to neighboring prefectures by train, a situation in which early discovery would have been difficult without GPS devices.
In addition, drones were effective in search and rescue operations in some cases, according to the NPA.
The agency will analyze these cases to consider quick and effective search methods.
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