{"id":1644,"date":"2026-08-03T19:41:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T19:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asianewscast.com\/2026\/08\/03\/two-workers-killed-in-blast-after-re-entering-quake-hit-japan-mall-on-boss-order\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T19:41:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T19:41:11","slug":"two-workers-killed-in-blast-after-re-entering-quake-hit-japan-mall-on-boss-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.asianewscast.com\/?p=1644","title":{"rendered":"Two workers killed in blast after re-entering quake-hit Japan mall on boss’ order"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two store employees were killed after a blast tore through the earthquake-hit Aeon Mall in Kumamoto<\/p>\n

Two workers who died in a shopping mall explosion that followed a powerful earthquake in Japan last week were asked by a boss to re-enter the building to secure cash.<\/p>\n

Their employer, general goods store Habita, has apologised for the "loss of two precious lives".<\/p>\n

The two were among 38 people who died in the magnitude 6.8 earthquake in Kumamoto prefecture on 28 July. Seven of the fatalities were from Aeon Mall.<\/p>\n

"The instructions given at the time were inappropriate, and I truly regret them," Habita sales director Goji Yuse said, NHK reported.<\/p>\n

One of two workers has been named as 22-year-old Kurumi Otake. The identity of the other deceased employee has not been made public.<\/p>\n

Otake's family told local media that she ran into a relative outside the Aeon Mall after the earthquake.<\/p>\n

She told the relative that she had to go back in because her company had asked her to move money from the cash register into a safe.<\/p>\n

This was confirmed by two company representatives, who attended Otake'a wake on Sunday and apologised to her family.<\/p>\n

He added that the company was considering how to proceed with the matter, NHK reported.<\/p>\n

"Looking back now, it was not worth a life," Yuse told reporters at the wake, Kyodo reported.<\/p>\n

Otake's relative described her as someone with a "strong sense of justice". She had supported her mother after her father died three years ago, Asahi Shimbun reported.<\/p>\n

"If she hadn't gone back inside the store at that time, Kurumi would still be with her family today," the relative said.<\/p>\n

While most people in Aeon mall had evacuated shortly after the earthquake, some employees were still in the building about an hour later, when an explosion ripped through the mall.<\/p>\n

"My daughter is not coming back," local media reported her mother as saying.<\/p>\n

Habita, founded in 1976 and operates more than ten stores across several prefectures.<\/p>\n

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Two store employees were killed after a blast tore through the earthquake-hit Aeon Mall in Kumamoto Two workers who died in a shopping mall explosion that followed a powerful earthquake in Japan last week were asked by a boss to re-enter the building to secure cash. 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