OSAKA (TR) – Police here are investigating the deaths of two women who apparently leaped from the 19th floor of a high-rise hotel in the downtown Umeda district of Osaka City on Thursday, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Apr. 23).
At approximately 1:40 p.m. on April 23, emergency services received a call reporting that people had fallen from a 23-story commercial building in Chayamachi, Kita Ward.
Upon arriving at the scene, officers from the Sonezaki Police Station found the two women, believed to be in their 20s, collapsed on the roof of a mid-level section of the building. One woman was pronounced dead at the scene. The second woman was transported to a hospital unconscious but was later confirmed dead.
According to investigators, the pair were registered guests at the hotel. Police suspect they leaped from the balcony of their 19th-floor room in an apparent suicide pact.
The incident came to light after hotel employees entered the room when the women failed to check out on time and could not be reached. A document resembling a suicide note was found left behind inside the room.
The high-rise, which houses a hotel and a wedding venue, is located in a bustling commercial area near Hankyu Osaka-Umeda Station. Both women fell onto a lower rooftop before reaching the ground, and no pedestrians or bystanders were injured in the incident.
Police are currently rushing to formally identify the victims and uncover the details leading up to the fatal plunge.
