NHK engineer overdrunk, died in S China

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-04-10 23:48

ZHUHAI -- A sound engineer from Japanese broadcaster NHK has died after drinking "much" alcohol in the southern Chinese town of Sanzao, a Chinese official said Friday.

Moriyama Shota, 31, arrived at the seaside town in the Jinwan District of Zhuhai, Guangdong Province on April 3 together with his three colleagues to shoot a TV documentary, said Li Shengfei, head of the Communist Party of China Jinwan District Committee.

The crew had alcohol while eating supper at a restaurant along with several Chinese people, including local officials, on the night of April 8, and Moriyama Shota drank much, Li said.

But he did not reveal how much the Japanese man drank.

"The crew had worked hard in the past few days and Moriyama Shota seemed very tired after drinking alcohol," he said.

Local officials and a history expert from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences who also companied the crew suggest Moriyama Shota's colleagues should send him to hospital, but the crew's scenarist, Uchiyama Taku, said there should be no problem with him because they had been able to drink much more alcohol when they were in Japan, Li said.

They stayed at the Jinmao Hotel in Zhuhai that night and a crew member was asked to accompany Moriyama Shota.

Nothing unexpected were reported that night until 8:08 a.m. the next day when local officials were informed that Moriyama Shota was in a coma, Li said.

"A staff member from the Chinese Association for Radio, Film and Television Exchanges (CARFTE) who also accompanied the crew told local officials via telephone that they had called the first-aid center to send an ambulance and they had also called the police," he said.

"But first-aid doctors confirmed that Moriyama Shota had died at about 8:40 a.m.," he said.

Police doctors found vomit in Moriyama Shota's mouth and nose, he said.

"Doctors said it was likely the vomit had blocked his respiratory tract and then he was suffocated," Li said. "But the exact cause of his death is still being investigated."

Li told Xinhua that local authorities had informed Moriyama Shota's relatives and they were also asked to bring his medical record to help Chinese police.

The Japanese crew's reporting had been approved by China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, Li added.

Both the Chinese history expert and the CARFTE staff expressed condolences.

The TV documentary the crew were shooting, temporarily titled "Japanese Navy's Confession," will record a rarely-known history about a massacre carried out by the invading Japanese navy on April 8, 1938 in Sanzao, said Yang Zhao, a reporter of the NHK crew and also an interpreter.

"We hope to revive the truth of history and let the Japanese public reflect on the war," he said.

The TV special is expected to be broadcast just before or after August 15, he added.

In the rarely-known massacre 71 years ago, about 10,000 people were killed or starved in Sanzao, history experts said.

"The Japanese TV crew were very concerned about the tragedy and they worked very hard, because they also want to find out the truth of history," said Nong Weixiong, from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, who had accompanied the crew.

"Most Japanese public blamed their army for the war and thought their navy were not involved in war massacres, but what happened in Sanzao can show the world a real history," he said.