Vocalist of Zard Passes Away

Since April of this year, Sakai Izumi has been hospizalized due to lung cancer. On May 27th, she fell down a flight of stairs and died from serious injuries to her head. The police are still investigating if it was a accident or a suicide.

According to her office, Sakai was repeatedly hospitalized from June 2006 due to uterine cervix cancer. She returned to the hospital in April after the cancer was found to have spread to her lungs.