那須雪崩事故８年で追悼式　慰霊碑に「誓い」の文―栃木

　栃木県那須町で２０１７年３月、登山講習会中に発生した雪崩で県立大田原高校の生徒ら８人が死亡した事故から８年となるのを前に、同校で２２日、追悼式が開かれた。
　式には、遺族や県教育委員会、県高校体育連盟の関係者ら約５０人が参列。８人の名前が刻まれた慰霊碑に向かって黙とうし、遺族が追悼の辞を述べた。
　事故で佐藤宏祐さん＝当時（１６）＝を亡くした父政充さん（５５）は「息子が無言で帰宅したどうしようもないむなしさをきょうも突き付けられた。遺族の悲しみは８年たった今も変わらない」と述べた。
　式に合わせ、事故の経緯や原因を振り返り、「風化を防ぎ、安全で安心な学校づくりの誓いとして建立する」などと記した板が慰霊碑の裏面に新たに取り付けられた。政充さんは「痛み、悲しみ、願いが伝わる碑文になった」と語った。
　雪崩は１７年３月２７日朝、茶臼岳山麓のスキー場付近で発生。深雪歩行訓練をしていた大田原高山岳部の生徒７人と男性教諭１人が死亡、多数のけが人が出た。
　宇都宮地裁は昨年５月、雪崩の予見可能性を認め、業務上過失致死傷罪に問われた元引率教諭ら３人にいずれも禁錮２年の実刑を言い渡した。３人は控訴している。
　判決後初めての追悼式に、犠牲となった奥公輝さん＝同（１６）＝の父勝さん（５３）は「昨年よりはすっきりした気持ちで追悼できた」と話した。（2025/03/22-16:40）

Bereaved families and others mourned the victims of an avalanche that occurred during a school mountaineering workshop in Tochigi Prefecture in 2017, in a memorial ceremony held Saturday before the eighth anniversary of the accident.
   The ceremony, held at Tochigi Prefectural Otawara High School, was attended by about 50 people, also including officials of the education board and the high school athletic federation of the eastern Japan prefecture, who offered silent prayers before the cenotaph inscribed with the names of the eight victims--seven students and one teacher of the high school in the city of Otawara in Tochigi.
   Masamitsu Sato, 55, who read a memorial tribute at the ceremony, said he still lives with the emptiness of having lost his son, Kosuke, then 16, in the incident, adding, "Our grief remains unchanged after eight years."
   The avalanche occurred near a ski resort at the foot of Mount Chausu in the town of Nasu in Tochigi, in the morning of March 27, 2017. The students who were members of the high school's mountaineering club and the teacher were killed while practicing walking on snow, and many more were injured.
   In May last year, Utsunomiya District Court concluded that the danger of an avalanche was fully predictable, and sentenced three teachers to two years in prison for professional negligence. The three have appealed the ruling.