OSAKA (TR) – The rainy season may be in effect for much of the archipelago but temperatures are in mid-summer form.
For one elderly woman found dead at her apartment in Osaka City over the weekend, she was deemed by police to have succumbed to the heat despite the fact that a pair of scissors were lodged in her head.
At around 2:40 p.m. on Sunday, a man living in the municipal housing building in Nishinari Ward alerted alerted emergency services about “a woman collapsed” on her first-floor balcony, according to the Sankei Shimbun (June 15).
Police and emergency personnel arriving at the unit found the woman, aged in her 70s, lying face-down on the balcony with a pair of scissors protruding from the left side of her head. She was confirmed dead at the scene.
On Monday, the Nishinari Police Station confirmed that the woman is the 74-year-old occupant of the unit. She lived alone.
Police also said that the cause of death was heatstroke, adding that an examination of security camera footage shows the woman falling. (The scissors are not mentioned.)
In announcing the incident on Sunday, police said that the case was being treated as the result of foul play or an accident.
At the time of the discovery, the front door was locked and the window to the balcony was open. The interior of the residence showed no signs of having been ransacked.