Archive · 5 Aug 2026
Two Japanese Workers Die After Ordered Back to Retrieve Cash
A big earthquake shook a part of Japan called Kumamoto.
Two store workers had safely gotten out of a shopping mall after helping customers escape.
Their boss asked them to go back inside to get the day's money and put it in a safe.
Sadly, while they were inside, there was a suspected gas explosion.
Both workers died.
One of them was a 22-year-old woman named Kurumi Otake.
The boss said he was very sorry and that the money was not worth a life.
In total, the earthquake took 38 lives, with seven people dying at the same mall.
Japan has many earthquakes because it sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire."
Two Habita store employees died in a suspected gas explosion after re-entering an earthquake-damaged shopping mall on their boss's instruction to retrieve the day's cash takings.
The deaths occurred during a 6.8-magnitude earthquake that hit Kumamoto prefecture on July 28, killing 38 people in total.
Seven of the 38 fatalities were from Aeon Mall, where the two workers died.
Sales director Goji Yuse, who gave the instruction, apologized, saying the instructions were "inappropriate" and "not worth a life."
The two employees had first guided customers to safety and evacuated to a parking lot before re-entering the building around 5:35 pm local time.
- Who
- Two Habita store employees, including 22-year-old Kurumi Otake, and their boss, sales director Goji Yuse.
- What
- The two workers died in a suspected gas explosion after re-entering a damaged shopping mall on orders to retrieve cash takings.
- When
- July 28, minutes after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake, with the pair re-entering the building around 5:35 pm local time.
- Where
- Aeon Mall in Kumamoto prefecture, Japan.
- Why
- Their boss instructed them to go back into the building to secure the day's cash takings and stash them in a safe.
- Earthquake magnitude
- 6.8
- Location
- Kumamoto prefecture, Japan
- Date
- July 28
- Total death toll
- 38 people
- Fatalities at Aeon Mall
- 7 people
- Workers who died
- 2 (including 22-year-old Kurumi Otake)
- Time workers re-entered mall
- 5:35 pm local time
- Habita founded
- 1976