"I'm sorry I couldn't help" The man who lost his mother 18:59 July 14
At the time, a man who died unable to rescue his 83-year-old mother who was in the elderly nursing home “Senjuen” at Kuma-mura, Kumamoto Prefecture, where 14 people had died, was interviewed by NHK at the time. Witnessed the situation.
Mr. Masaaki Oiwa, who works for the Kuma village office, lost his mother Yuko (83) to the interview.
Yuko is said to have been living in wheelchairs since she entered Senjuen five years ago due to dementia.
At around 6:30 in the morning on the 4th of this month, Mr. Oiwa said that he was headed to the site when he was informed by the residents that the facility was likely to be flooded with water.
When they arrived at the facility, they said that they were flooded to the height of ankle and evacuated the elderly who were staying with the staff of the facility from the first floor to the second floor one after another.
Mr. Oiwa was able to find his mother, Yuko, in a wheelchair on the first floor, but in just 30 minutes, the water level reached the waist level and he was unable to move.
It is said that he could only give up evacuation to the second floor and lift Yuko with a wheelchair to a nearby table.
There was an elderly woman who was about to be washed away at the scene, and Oiwa says that she had no choice but to prioritize the rescue of that woman.
Oiwa said, "When I raised my wheelchair to the table and left a little, I felt like "please be safe". I would regret it if I didn't help the woman in front of my mother. I think I absolutely have to help."
After that, the neck was filled with water, but the woman who was embraced and rescued by the rushing Self-Defense Forces was safe.
Oiwa-san said, “I'm sorry I couldn't help you.” When I found my mother in a wheelchair, she seemed to have a hole in her heart I remember seeing my mother. My mother's face wasn't a painful face, it was as if she was still asleep, just like I saw it in the morning."