Kumamoto - The operators of cosmetics and apparel stores at Aeon Mall Kumamoto disclosed new details on August 4 about how five employees who had initially evacuated the building later returned inside before being killed in an explosion following the earthquake.
Habita, the operator of a cosmetics store where two employees died, said it instructed the workers, who had evacuated outdoors after the earthquake, to return the store's sales proceeds to a safe.
The two employees followed the request and were caught in the explosion inside the mall.
Habita also acknowledged that it issued similar instructions to employees at three other stores in Kumamoto Prefecture.
Asked whether the company had directed workers at the three locations to secure their sales proceeds, Habita Sales Director Koji Yuse said, "We instructed them to put the money in the safe if permission had been granted by the facility."
The company told reporters that employees at the three other stores had also been asked to place sales proceeds in their safes.
Onward Holdings, a major apparel company whose three employees were killed in the explosion, separately released a detailed account of the events leading up to their deaths.
According to the company's investigation, a sales representative working in Fukuoka at the time confirmed by telephone at around 4:30 p.m., shortly after the earthquake, that all three employees had evacuated outside the facility.
About 30 minutes before the explosion, however, one of the employees contacted the representative and said the workers had been able to return to the store to retrieve valuables, asking whether there was anything else they should do.
The representative had not instructed them to reenter the building and told them to leave immediately.
The explosion occurred at around 5:50 p.m., after which the company lost contact with the three employees.
All three were found near an entrance on the southern side of the mall's first floor between the time of the explosion and the evening of July 30, two days later.
Source: FNN
