A FORMER pro-wrestling referee and beloved dad has been mauled to dying in a horrifying bear assault whereas he was on the job at a Japanese scorching spring inn.
Katsumi Sasazaki, 60, was cleansing an outside tub at a hot-spring facility in Kitakami, Iwate Prefecture in Japan when investigators imagine a predator set its eyes on him.
The retired referee, who had labored for All Japan Girls’s Wrestling, Zerol, and most just lately Marigold wrestling, was reported lacking by his supervisor on Thursday.
Police later discovered indicators of a wrestle, in addition to bloodstains, animal fur and a pair of deserted slippers on the scene.
A gaggle of 30 individuals, together with two Iwate Prefecture law enforcement officials started looking out the encircling space, believing Sasazaki had been taken by a bear.
Metropolis officers and the native hunters’ affiliation members additionally made up the search get together.
Tragically, they have been compelled to droop their search after simply half-hour as a result of unhealthy climate situations.
At 9am on Friday morning, Sasazaki’s physique was present in a wooded space on the alternative financial institution of the Getogawa river, 50 metres north west of the new spring inn.
Sasazaki, referred to as “Katsumi Tiger”, was knowledgeable girls’s wrestling referee for a few years earlier than he grew to become a bus driver who transported the wrestlers to competitions.
He then took up a job on the scorching spring inn, the place he cleaned and maintained the location.
Hideo Arai, the president of a Yokohama-based leisure firm, posted a touching tribute for the father-of-two.
“As a famend referee, he was a pillar of many ring occasions,” Arai stated.
“He had a delicate persona and approached matches with a honest angle.
“I knew he had retired and was working at a scorching spring, however how may this occur?”
Tributes have flowed on social media, together with from legendary Japanese wrestling determine Rossy Ogawa.
“Sasazaki’s closing refereeing position was within the Marigold ring,” he stated.
“He was a junior from All-Japan Girls’s Professional-Wrestling, quiet however devoted to his work, and had two younger daughters.
“Such an finish is unimaginable, it could possibly solely be described as deeply regretable and heartbreaking,” he added.
“Could he relaxation in peace.”
The tragedy has come because the variety of individuals killed by bears in Japan reaches a document excessive.
In line with the nation’s setting ministry, seven individuals have been killed by the animals since April – the best quantity since 2006 when knowledge was first recorded.
Nearly all of the fatalities have come from the north-eastern areas of Japan.
