Monument to commemorate Yalova’s dead Japanese engineer

YALOVA – Doğan News Agency

DHA Photo

A monument will be built in the western province of Yalova in memory of a Japanese engineer who committed suicide after holding himself responsible for a recent accident at the İzmit-Yalova bridge construction site.

Kishi Ryoichi, 51, who was working on the bridge connecting İzmit and Yalova, was found dead on March 23, while a suicide note found on the scene.

Yalova Mayor Vefa Salman said the city will open the monument, entitled “Honor Monument,” in 45 days and will install it in Tonami Square, named after Yalova’s Japanese sister city.

Salman voiced sorrow over the death of the engineer, adding that the two countries had always offered help to each other after disasters. He particularly recalled the help offered by Japan during the 1999 earthquake in northern Turkey that caused huge damage to the city.

Ryoichi’s body was sent to Japan on March 24 after the forensics department in the nearby city of Bursa completed an autopsy. Ryoichi said in his note that he held himself responsible for the severing of the rope and therefore decided to take his own life.

The rope on the section of the bridge called the Catwalk ruptured on March 21, and the construction of the bridge may now be delayed for a few more months.

The material that connects the rope to the bridge is produced in Turkey, and officials are considering changing the use imported materials.

It has been reported that Ryoichi noticed a crack in the material connecting the rope to the bridge but did not report it.

The three-kilometer bridge, with building costs of $1 billion, is projected to be the longest suspension bridge in the world. It will cut the 70-minute drive around the gulf to only six minutes and is part of a large highway project that will link the industrial hubs of Istanbul and İzmir, as well as many Aegean tourism destinations.