Nilkanta Tragedy. On September 30, six members of the Japanese expedition of Obihiro Bisutari Club of Hokkiado died on the northeast ridge of difficult Nilkanta. They were leader Yuichi Sasaki, Yuzuru Kobayashi, Yoshinori Wakabayashi, Haruo Takano, Gen Masuda and Takeshi Namba. They were swept away by an avalanche. A seventh member, Akira Matsuyama, had stayed in Camp II and survived.