During a medical emergency on Wednesday, two women rushed into a sumo ring in Maizuru, northwest of Kyoto, after a local mayor collapsed while giving a speech. The two women were attempting to perform a CPR, but multiple announcements were made over loudspeakers asking them to leave the ring, as told to AFP. The Japan Sumo Association apologised on Thursday after a sumo judge ordered women, including a physician, out of the ring while trying to administer first aid to the mayor because women are considered ‘ritually unclean’ in the sport and are barred from stepping into them.

The 67-year-old mayor of Maizuru was giving a speech from the ring when he collapsed. Officials went to help the mayor, Ryozo Tatami who was having difficulties. Then a woman rushed into the ring and apparently told the men that she was a doctor. She then started performing CPR on the mayor and other women also came up to help. While the woman was doing her job, a judge from Japan Sumo Association was saying over and over on the public-address system, “Please could the women leave the ring.” Eventually male firefighters arrived with a defibrillator and entered the ring.

Video of the Incident Went Viral in Japan

The head of the sumo association, Nobuyoshi Hakkaku apologised to try to quell the uproar. In a statement he said, “The judge was upset and made the announcement, but it was an inappropriate response because the situation could have been life-threatening.” “I am deeply sorry,” Hakkaku said, thanking the woman who provided first aid treatment. According to the Shinto traditions of the male-only sport of sumo, the ring is a sacred area that ‘unclean’ women are forbidden from entering.

The mayor had suffered from a subarachnoid haemorrhage, when there is bleeding in the space between the brain and the surrounding membrane. The mayor was taken to the hospital and underwent surgery to stop the bleeding, according to the local reports and is now in a stable condition.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 05, 2018 06:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).