Young man dies after nursing care facility workers left him in car for hours

AGEO, Saitama -- A 19-year-old autistic man died apparently of heatstroke after workers at a welfare service facility mistakenly left him behind in a car for hours, police said.

Investigators are questioning staffers at the Cosmos Earth care facility in Ageo, Saitama Prefecture, over whether their safety measures were appropriate.

Kenji Otsuka, manager of the facility, has apologized for the incident. "Workers failed to cooperate sufficiently in their work," he said.

At around 3:25 p.m. on July 13, emergency service received a call from a female worker at Cosmos Earth reporting that a male had collapsed in a car, foaming at the mouth.

The victim was in a state of cardio-respiratory arrest with a body temperature of 41.4 degrees Celsius when an ambulance arrived.

He was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly afterwards. The man is believed to have died of heatstroke. The high temperature in Ageo and the neighboring city of Saitama was 33.1 degrees Celsius that day.

The 19-year-old man who lived in Ageo arrived at the care facility in a car dispatched by the facility at around 9 a.m. on July 13.

The driver and five users of the facility, including the 19-year-old, were initially in the car, but the victim was left behind in the vehicle. Staffers at the facility are supposed take a roll call when users get out of a vehicle but failed to make sure that all five left the vehicle that day.

The victim had autism and had started using services at the facility this past spring. He did not need any assistance in his daily life.

Cosmos Earth, established in 2014, is a visiting care facility for mentally and intellectually disabled people with a capacity of 40, according to the facility's website.