2 TV journalists covering chopper crash confirmed dead+

SAITAMA, Japan, Aug. 1 Kyodo -
Two journalists working for Nippon Television Network Corp. were confirmed dead
Sunday after being taken to hospital from a mountain in Chichibu, Saitama
Prefecture, which they had climbed to cover the fatal crash a week earlier of a
rescue helicopter, police said.
Yuji Kita, a 30-year-old reporter from the city of Saitama, and Jun Kawakami, a
43-year-old cameraman from Tokyo, were unresponsive when they were found with
their lower bodies sitting in a pool of water some 2 kilometers from the crash
site by rescue operators on Sunday morning.
The two men began climbing the mountain early Saturday, but after they failed
to return in the evening, the Tokyo-based broadcaster asked authorities to
mount a search, the broadcaster said.
A 33-year-old mountain guide who had accompanied the journalists said he tried
to keep the two from climbing at one point as they were underdressed but they
went anyway.
The guide said in a news conference Sunday evening that when he checked the
journalists' gear the night before, he thought the two had ''insufficient''
equipment, adding, ''Seeing their strides during the climb, I thought they were
not used to climbing.''
According to the guide, when the two decided to go on their own, Kawakami told
the guide he wanted to check on the ridge of the mountain and it would not take
long, saying, ''We'll just take a look and come back.''
Nippon TV President Noritada Hosokawa said in a separate news conference,
''We're devastated. We apologize for causing such trouble.''
A Nippon TV official said in the news conference that the broadcaster believes
the two men were suitably equipped for the climb, adding Kawakami was an
experienced journalist in covering stories involving mountains.
The official said the broadcaster allowed the two to climb on condition they
hire a mountain guide, adding he could not understand why they decided to go it
alone without the guide.
Saitama prefectural police had warned the media not to go near the crash site
because of the area's dangerous terrain.
But the Nippon TV official said the broadcaster decided that coverage on the
mountain could be possible if the journalists were appropriately equipped.
According to the police and Nippon TV, the two journalists began their climb
from a forest road in Chichibu, some 70 kilometers northwest of Tokyo, around
6:30 a.m. Saturday.
They once abandoned the attempt on the advice of the mountain guide saying they
were at risk because of their lightweight gear, but resumed their climb around
10 a.m. after parting with the guide, looking for a place where they could see
the wreckage of the helicopter.
When they had not returned by 6 p.m., Nippon TV contacted the police, and a
police mountain rescue unit found the two men in a state of cardio-respiratory
arrest around 9:10 a.m. Sunday near the crash site about 1,100 meters in
elevation, the police said.
Backpacks spotted about 50 meters from where the men were found partially
submerged contained the driving licenses of Kita and Kawakami, they added.
In the July 25 crash, five of the seven people aboard the helicopter belonging
to the Saitama prefectural government died as they tried to rescue a
55-year-old female climber who fell into the basin of a waterfall and was later
confirmed dead.
==Kyodo