Body found off central Japan coast identified as girl missing in recent record rain

TOKYO, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) — A female body found off the coast of central Japan has been identified as that of 14-year-old Hanon Kiso, who went missing during recent torrential rains in Ishikawa prefecture, the Japan Coast Guard said Thursday.
Kiso, a junior high school student from Wajima City in the prefecture, had been missing since the record-breaking rainfall on Sept. 21, when her home was swept away by a mudflow amid the rain.
The body was found on Monday off the coast of the neighboring Fukui prefecture on the Sea of Japan and was identified through DNA analysis, the Fukui Coast Guard Station said.
Record torrential rain pounded Ishikawa from Sept. 21 to 22, a region still reeling from a major earthquake at the start of the year. Local authorities said the death toll from the heavy rain now came to 14. ■