Families and friends commemorated on Saturday the 38th anniversary of the Japan Airlines jet crash that killed 520 passengers and crew in the world’s deadliest single-aircraft accident.
Braving the heat, mourners climbed the mountain trail to the Boeing 747 crash site on Osutaka Ridge in Gunma Prefecture, where they paid their respects at a monument and grave markers for their lost loved ones.
Kuniko Miyajima, who leads an association of kin of the victims, said, “We all share a desire for safety and peace.” The 76-year-old, who lost her 9-year-old son Ken in the crash, said she hopes to pass on the lessons learnt from the tragedy to the next generation.
Also among the hikers was Kyoko Fukuda, 84, who lost her 56-year-old husband Takeshi. It was her first hike since 2019 as she had refrained from climbing the trail during the COVID-19 pandemic.
At her late husband’s grave marker, she talked about the birth of a great grandchild and said, “As always, I am doing just fine.”
In the evening, a memorial ceremony will be held at the foot of the mountain ridge in the village of Ueno, with coronavirus pandemic limits imposed on the number of attendees in 2020 now lifted.
On Aug. 12, 1985, a full flight en route from Tokyo to Osaka crashed around 40 minutes after take-off, leaving only four survivors among the 524 people on board.
Many were traveling to their hometowns during the Bon summer holiday period.
In 1987, a Japanese government investigation commission concluded that the accident was caused by improper repairs by Boeing on the plane’s rear pressure bulkhead, whose rupture blew off the craft’s vertical stabilizer and destroyed its hydraulic systems.