GUNMA (TR) – Gunma Prefectural Police are investigating a glider accident during a competition in the town of Oizumi that killed a 22-year-old male university student, reports NHK (Oct. 11).
At around 3:10 p.m. on Sunday, a glider piloted by Yuya Akezuma, a Waseda University student, plummeted to the ground near a riverbed during the Kanto Student Glider Meet. The student was confirmed dead at the site of the accident.
The accident took place about two kilometers from where the competition started in Kumagaya City, Saitama Prefecture. The course required the pilots to turn back to the start at Oizumi. Near the turn, Akezuma’s glider, which was among five or six planes, suddenly stalled and fell to the ground.
Two members from the Japan Transportation Safety Board were scheduled on Tuesday to be sent to the scene to investigate the cause of the accident.
