TEPCO ex-chair at time of Fukushima nuclear disaster dies at 84 while on trial over responsibility

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Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings' former chairperson, who led the emergency response after a meltdown at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and was accused of being responsible for failing to prevent the disaster as top management, has died, with...

TOKYO — Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings' former chairperson, who led the emergency response after a meltdown at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and was accused of being responsible for failing to prevent the disaster as top management, has died, with his trials still pending. He was 84.

Tsunehisa Katsumata died on Oct. 21, TEPCO said Thursday, without providing further details including the cause of his death.

Katsumata was TEPCO chair when Fukushima Daiichi was hit by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 and suffered triple meltdowns. He led the emergency response after the company's then-president stepped down due to health problems and served until mid-2012.

He later became one of the defendants in high-profile criminal and civil lawsuits seeking TEPCO management's responsibility over their alleged failure to anticipate the massive quake and tsunami and to take preventive measures.

Nearly 6,000 Fukushima residents in 2012 filed the criminal complaint, accusing several former TEPCO executives, including Katsumata, of professional negligence in the death of more than 40 elderly patients during or after forced evacuations in the aftermath of the meltdown, which released large amounts of radiation to the surroundings.

After prosecutors dropped the case, Katsumata and two other former executives were indicted in 2016 by a citizens' inquest of prosecution and forced to stand trial in the only criminal case related to the Fukushima disaster.

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