Senior Japanese Olympic Official Dies After Getting Hit By Train

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.

A senior member of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee jumped in front of a subway train and died on Monday morning, Nippon TV reported.

The police are investigating his death as a suicide, the Japanese news channel has said.

The man has been identified as Yasushi Moriya, a 52-year-old director of finance for the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC), according to Nippon TV, citing investigators who looked at the man’s personal documents.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation said a man fell on the tracks at around 9:30 a.m. at Nakanobu station on the Toei Asakusa Line in the Japanese capital. The statement did not name Moriya.

About 30 minutes later, rescuers removed the man from the tracks and sent him to a nearby hospital, the bureau said. He was confirmed dead about 2 hours later, according to the statement. 

Reached by telephone on Monday afternoon, the Tokyo police department referred VICE World News to the transportation bureau’s statement.

The JOC has not released an official statement about Moriya’s death. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Tokyo Olympics are set to begin on July 23 despite public pressure to postpone the games over COVID-19 concerns.

A little more than 3 percent of the Japanese population has been fully vaccinated, among the lowest rate in East Asia.

The first international Olympic athletes, from Australia’s national softball team, arrived in Tokyo last week to prepare for the two-week event.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, help is available. Call 1-800-273-8255 to speak with someone now or text START to 741741 to message with the Crisis Text Line.

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