SAITAMA (Kyodo) Prosecutors have filed summary indictments charging two men with professional negligence resulting in the death of a 7-year-old girl who was sucked into a water intake at a swimming pool in Fujimino, Saitama Prefecture, in 2006.
The two men, a 51-year-old subcontractor who managed the pool and a 38-year-old supervisor who was on site at the time of the accident — failed to fulfill their responsibility to prevent the accident, the indictment filed Thursday with the Omiya Summary Court said.
The men failed to take proper safety steps, including covering the intake pipe after its lid was found to have come off, the indictment said.
Erika Tomaru died July 31 after she was sucked into the intake pipe in the pool shortly after one of two aluminum grids covering its mouth was found to have fallen off.
In June 2007, the Saitama District Public Prosecutor's Office decided not to charge the two men. But the girl's family asked for the two to be indicted.