It was learned on the 9th that an accident occurred in December 2022 at Hitakami-en, a support facility for people with disabilities in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture, in which resident Kana Abe (then 38) suffered severe burns and died while receiving bathing assistance. The water temperature was likely around 50 degrees Celsius. According to the facility’s accident report, at around 10:00 a.m. on December 30, 2022, Abe, who has intellectual and physical disabilities, was helped by two female staff members into a bathtub equipped with a lift, suffering burns including peeling skin from her right thigh. Staff members called 119 and she was taken to hospital, but she died on January 2, 2023.