Hong Kong resident found dead at Japanese ski resort after going snowboarding
Man, 38, had gone snowboarding alone at the Gala Yuzawa Snow Resort in Niigata prefecture and was later reported missing by friends
A 38-year-old senior executive from Hong Kong has been found dead at a popular ski resort in northwestern Japan.
Contact was lost with the Chinese national, a senior executive, on Friday while he was snowboarding at the Gala Yuzawa Snow Resort in Niigata prefecture, Kyodo News reported on Sunday, citing the local Minamiuonuma Police Station.
The man was last seen snowboarding alone after parting ways with two friends earlier in the day, Television Niigata Network said. When he did not return by 5pm, his friends alerted staff at the resort, prompting a search by its ski patrol, police and the fire department.
Hong Kong residents made 1.84 million departure trips between Thursday last week and the second day of the Easter break, representing a 10 per cent increase from the same period last year.
Figures from the Immigration Department highlighted an increase from 2024, and a 20 per cent rise from the 1.4 million trips recorded in 2018, before the 2019 social unrest and the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The search concluded the following morning when the man, surnamed Lam, was discovered near the summit of a mountain around 7.20am. He was found off the designated course, head down near a hollow area around a tree – known as a “tree hole” – in a forest.
