Tokyo police officer found dead in the mountains of eastern Japan

Maebashi, Japan – A police officer was found dead while his partner remains “lost” on Tanigawa Mountain in eastern Japan, local police said Tuesday, two days after receiving a call for help.

The body of 43-year-old Kenji Konagai was found by the police helicopter at around 8:40 a.m. after his trekking partner, a 52-year-old woman, also a Tokyo police officer, called asking for help last Sunday afternoon indicating that they had fallen and could not get up.

Konagai was found near Minakami, in Gunma Prefecture, about 250 meters below the trekking route.

The police will continue the search for the missing police officer.

Tanigawa is a popular mountain among climbers and trekkers as it is very easy to access from the Tokyo metropolitan area. Although its elevation is relatively low compared to the mountains in central Japan known as the Japanese Alps, where peaks over 3,000 meters high are found, Tanigawa has a very steep slope, with stony roads, which with unexpected changes in weather they can be very dangerous.

There were many accidents in other mountains in Japan last Tuesday, where some people got caught in heavy storms.

In Yarigatake, a 3,180-meter-high mountain between Nagano and Gifu prefectures, three people were confirmed dead after going missing last Monday, probably due to low visibility that day.