US Sailor Found Dead At Japanese Train Station

Authorities say a United States Navy sailor was found dead, bleeding from the head, on the platform of a railway station in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture in southwestern Japan early Sunday.

According to the Japan Daily Press, the sailor, identified as Petty Officer 2nd Class Samuel Lewis Stiles, died of electrocution after he somehow managed to get into the train station undetected by railway employees.

The Daily writes:

“[Stiles] apparently climbed to the roof of the train car, and then came into contact with the overhead power lines, getting zapped, and falling to the ground.”

Police said that, when the sailor was found, his forehead had been bleeding and part of his windbreaker was burnt. There were no signs of violence.

The Global Times reports that police also discovered five or six empty cans of a Japanese cocktail nearby Stiles bod, but have yet to conduct a blood test to determine if he had been drinking.

“There will be an investigation obviously,” Commander Naval Forces Japan spokesman Jon Nylander said.

WPTZ notes that the time at which Stiles’s body was found — 5 am — suggests he may have been out in breach of a recently implemented curfew on US service personnel.

The curfew — which restricts military personnel to bases, personal homes, or hotels between 11 pm and 5 am — was put into place after two US sailors were arrested earlier this month on accusations they raped a local woman.

Image: Urutoranohihi