Prosecutors on Friday received a case against a mayor in Miyazaki Prefecture and four others over the outbreak of Legionnaires' disease at a hot spring that resulted in seven deaths.
The five are Hyuga Mayor Magoharu Yamamoto, 71; Deputy Mayor Tetsuro Yuge, 63; Kuniharu Kimura, 63, a former manager of the Hyuga Sun-Park Onsen spa; Yoshifumi Yoshitaka, 55, a part-time spa employee; and Futoshi Iwakiri, 40, who helped build the spa.
Police allege that Yamamoto, who is also president of the city-run firm that owns the spa, and Yuge, a board director of the firm, neglected to ensure that the facility was safe and kept clean.
The three others are suspected of negligence in their sanitation management.