An Australian court on Monday fined a Japanese teacher 55,000 Australian dollars ($36,000) for failing in his duty of care over the drowning of two Japanese schoolboys on a popular tourist island in the east of Australia in 2019.
Shinri Minatoya, 61, was one of two teachers accompanying the 16-year-old boys and 13 other students from Kanagawa University High School on a guided group tour at Lake McKenzie, a picturesque freshwater lake on the World Heritage-listed K'gari, formerly known as Fraser Island, in Queensland in March 2019.
The teacher, who appeared at Hervey Bay Magistrates Court in Queensland, pleaded guilty to the charge of violating work health and safety laws over the incident that saw two boys go missing while swimming in the lake on March 29, 2019. Their bodies were found in the lake the next day.