Last December, Tokyo's Setagaya Ward announced that a four-month-old infant who had been left at an unlicensed daycare facility had died.

This was reported at a special committee of the Setagaya Ward Assembly held on the 7th.



According to the ward, on December 13th of last year, a four-month-old infant who had been left at an unlicensed daycare facility in Setagaya Ward was confirmed dead after being taken to a hospital.



At the time, there were three people working at the facility, including the facility director and two temporary workers, and after breastfeeding the baby around 1:20 p.m., the staff put her to sleep on a futon.



At around 3:15 p.m., they noticed something strange and were transported to the hospital, where they confirmed the death.



The ward stated that the cause has not been determined at this time, but revealed the results of multiple on-site investigations.



According to the report, at the facility,


▽ the infants are not properly burped after breastfeeding,


▽ the infants are sometimes put to sleep on their stomachs, and there is insufficient consideration given to suffocation and sudden infant death syndrome, and ▽ the infants are sometimes placed to


sleep on their stomachs .

This means that the children's complexions and breathing conditions were not carefully observed.



Furthermore, the director of the facility, who was a qualified childcare worker, instructed the facility to make improvements, citing extremely low levels of safety awareness, such as staff temporarily leaving the facility and only unqualified staff working at the facility.



The ward plans to establish a verification committee made up of experts to examine the background of the accident and measures to prevent it from happening again.

The infant's bereaved family "strongly hopes for a thorough investigation to find out the cause"

The deceased infant's parents and grandfather held a press conference on the afternoon of the 7th, along with their lawyer.



According to the report, the person who died was a 4-month-old boy named Masaki, and when I asked the facility about the circumstances at the time, the staff explained that the infant was placed face down on a futon. It was revealed that he had done so.



Initially, Setagaya Ward explained to the bereaved family that the accident occurred while the child was sleeping, but the following statement was made: ``The accident occurred while the child was lying on his stomach, and it has not been confirmed that he was asleep.We believe that the child died of suffocation due to inappropriate childcare.'' He added that the ward's report was insufficient and strongly hopes for a thorough investigation to determine the cause.



His parents said, ``Managi is an irreplaceable and beloved person to us. We can only imagine a bright future for him and what kind of child he will grow up to be, and it makes us sad to think of his regret. I would like to make this clear and prevent something like this from happening again."

Metropolitan Police Department investigates suspicion of professional negligence resulting in death

Regarding the case in which Mi Nagisa died, the Metropolitan Police Department will investigate the detailed circumstances at the time, including whether there were any problems with safety management on the facility's side, with a view to suspicion of professional negligence resulting in death.

Facility Director: ``I really have no words to apologize.''

The director of an unlicensed daycare facility in Setagaya Ward, where a 4-month-old infant died, told NHK about the situation at the time.When he returned from an outing, he was told by a staff member that the infant's face looked pale. They said they called 911 because it looked like he wasn't breathing.



She then explains, ``I think she was sleeping on her side or on her stomach. I think she was sleeping on her stomach.''



Although he was aware of the risks of having children sleep on their stomachs, he said that staff allowed the children to sleep on their stomachs because some children do not sleep on their backs.



Regarding the prevention of accidents, he said, ``We did not provide sufficient education and training,'' and regarding the infant's death, he said, ``I am truly sorry that this happened even though you trusted me with your care.'' I don't even have words.''