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Four railway workers on the Tōbu Nikkō Line are killed after being struck by a Limited express train in Kanuma, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan.
Confirmed
KANUMA, TOCHIGI PREF. – Four railway workers died after being struck by a limited-express train at a Tobu Nikko Line station in the city of Kanuma, Tochigi Prefecture, Tobu Railway said Thursday. The railway company said the Spacia X2, a six-car limited-express train from Tobu Nikko Station bound for Tobu Asakusa Station in Tokyo, hit the workers, who were weeding on railroad tracks at Shin-Kanuma Station.
Train service was suspended on the Tobu Nikko Line due to the accident, according to Tobu Railway. The four were Kazuyoshi Ishikawa, 67, and Toshihiko Watanabe, 65, who are both from the city of Utsunomiya in Tochigi, and Shigenobu Oke, 53, and Kazunari Sato, 54, both from the city of Nikko in the prefecture, the Tochigi Prefectural Police said.
The collision happened around 10:46 local time (01:46 BST) on Thursday while the workers were spraying herbicide, said Tobu Railway, the operator of the line. The train involved in Thursday's incident was a limited express train, according to NHK.
Tobu Railway general manager Takao Suzuki said the company offered "our deepest condolences to those who lost their lives and heartfelt apologies to their families". "When a train approaches, a lookout waves a flag and, once the driver acknowledges it, sounds the horn," he said.
“We deeply apologize to the bereaved families,” the head of its railway business division, Takao Suzuki, said. Train services were temporarily suspended between Shin-Tochigi and Shimo-Imaichi stations following the accident but were resumed at 3:22 p.m., the company said.
The fatalities, who were in their 50s and 60s, were among a team of ten working at the site on Thursday, railway officials said. He said passengers were stuck on the train for a while as staff announced that they were investigating the noise.
According to the company, the four worked for a subcontractor.
What's confirmed
- Train service was suspended on the Tobu Nikko Line due to the accident, according to Tobu Railway.
- "When a train approaches, a lookout waves a flag and, once the driver acknowledges it, sounds the horn," he said.
- Tobu Railway general manager Takao Suzuki said the company offered "our deepest condolences to those who lost their lives and heartfelt apologies to their families".
- KANUMA, TOCHIGI PREF. – Four railway workers died after being struck by a limited-express train at a Tobu Nikko Line station in the city of Kanuma, Tochigi Prefecture, Tobu Railway said Thursday.
- The railway company said the Spacia X2, a six-car limited-express train from Tobu Nikko Station bound for Tobu Asakusa Station in Tokyo, hit the workers, who were weeding on railroad tracks at Shin-Kanuma Station.
- “We deeply apologize to the bereaved families,” the head of its railway business division, Takao Suzuki, said.
What's still developing
- The collision happened around 10:46 local time (01:46 BST) on Thursday while the workers were spraying herbicide, said Tobu Railway, the operator of the line.
- He said passengers were stuck on the train for a while as staff announced that they were investigating the noise.
- The train involved in Thursday's incident was a limited express train, according to NHK.
- The fatalities, who were in their 50s and 60s, were among a team of ten working at the site on Thursday, railway officials said.
- The four were Kazuyoshi Ishikawa, 67, and Toshihiko Watanabe, 65, who are both from the city of Utsunomiya in Tochigi, and Shigenobu Oke, 53, and Kazunari Sato, 54, both from the city of Nikko in the prefecture, the…
- According to the company, the four worked for a subcontractor.
- Train services were temporarily suspended between Shin-Tochigi and Shimo-Imaichi stations following the accident but were resumed at 3:22 p.m., the company said.