Forensics overturns findings into Japanese boy's death at Vietnamese resort

The new report has revealed that he could have died due to suction from the a pool’s drainage system.

On Thursday, Binh Thuan police announced a forensic report on the death of 11-year-old Hanawa Yukiji, who died at a pool at the Centara Mirage Resort Mui Ne in Phan Thiet City of Binh Thuan Province.

Police are now investigating potential charges of involuntary manslaughter due to misconduct in professional practice.

According to forensic results released by the National Institute of Criminal Sciences in Ho Chi Minh City in April, the pool at the resort could have forcefully sucked someone below the surface of the water if they stood near the drain, if the person had "the stature of an 11-year-old boy who is 1.4 m high and weighs 39 kg (similar to Yukiji), even if he could swim skillfully."

The report said that if someone of such stature was sucked in by the drain at the back of the pool, they would not be able to get out on their own, and that could lead to death.

This is a stark contrast to a previous report by the same institute in 2023, when the case was being handled by Phan Thiet City police. That report then said the pool’s mechanism would not be able to suck in someone of similar stature to Yukiji’s, and thus did not lead to his death.

A metal mesh in a swimming pool at Centara Mirage Resort Mui Ne in Phan Thiet in central Vietnam where Japanese boy Hanawa Yukiji was drowned in 2022. Photo courtesy of his family

At around 10 a.m. on April 5, 2022, Yukiji was playing at a swimming pool in the Centara Mirage Resort Mui Ne in Phan Thiet. The boy knew how to swim, and the pool was only a meter deep.

At 10:35 a.m., a person at the pool found that Yukiji had been "sucked against a metal mesh in the pool." Somebody tried to pull him out but failed, so they called others for help. He died on the way to hospital.

Forensic analysis of Binh Thuan authorities revealed that the boy had acute pulmonary edema and respiratory failure due to drowning, which led to his death. There were square bruises on his body, which had formed because "the back side of the victim's body was pressed on or had gotten sucked in to objects with similar shapes," according to the analysis.

This would account for the mesh on the drain.

Square-shaped bruises are seen on the body of 11-year-old Hanawa Yukiji after he was drowned in a swimming pool in Binh Thuan Province in 2002. Photo courtesy of Yukiji's family

The family said Yukiji's death could not have been his fault as he knew how to swim, and that the boy was 1.4 m tall while the pool was only a meter deep.

In May 2022, Phan Thiet City police launched an investigation into involuntary manslaughter due to misconduct in professional practice or administrative rules. However, the case was suspended in January 2023 as the investigation period had passed and the forensic science department under the Ministry of Public Security had yet to give an explanation on how the drainage sewer worked, among other issues.

Investigations resumed three months later but were suspended again in July 2023 as there were "no criminal events regarding the death."

A forensic report by Ho Chi Minh City Forensic Technology Institute stated that the drainage sewer could not have sucked in someone who was 1.4 m tall and weighed 39 kg, like Yukiji, while they were swimming or standing on the sewer, and thus would not have led to their death.

As such, Phan Thiet police stated that Yukiji's death was an accident during the use of the pool. His family however did not agree, saying the boy died as he was sucked against the metal mesh drain in the bottom of the pool.

Investigations into the case began again in February 2024, before the case was handed over to the Binh Thuan provincial police department.

Lawyer Dao Thi Bich Lien said on Thursday that Binh Thuan investigators would evaluate the design, construction and operation of the pool to figure out the truth.