The remaining group, consisting of five members, were chased by police into a lodge at the base of Mount Asama. Here the members took hostage of the lodge keeper's wife. A nine-day siege ensued which saw the mountain sealed off and 3 000 riot police on scene. The police did not close in on the group despite several exchanges of gunfire in order to protect the hostage. Before the police cut off power to the lodge after a few days, group members watched media coverage of the siege on TV. On the 28th of February, the tenth and final day of the incident, the police brought in a wrecking ball to destroy the entrance of the lodge and fired water mixed with teargas into the building to assist police in their room-by-room search. After a battle that lasted eight hours and saw two police killed, the members and their hostage were found taking shelter behind a mattress on the top floor of the building. This event was viewed by 90% of Japan's television screens and became known as the Asama-Sanso incident.