Bus Crash Kills Student in Northeastern Japan; Driver Arrested

Gosen, Niigata Pref., May 7 (Jiji Press)–A 17-year-old male high school student was killed in a microbus crash that happened on the Ban-Etsu Expressway in the city of Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan, on Wednesday. The incident involved multiple vehicles, including the microbus, leaving a total of 20 people injured. The deceased victim, Hiroto Inagaki, from the city of Niigata, the capital of the namesake prefecture bordering Fukushima, was among the passengers of the microbus, which crashed into a guardrail on the expressway’s inbound lane near the Bandaiatami Interchange. Inagaki was thrown into the outbound lane and was confirmed dead at the scene. He died due to blood loss. The Fukushima prefectural police department arrested the male driver of the microbus, 68-year-old Tetsuo Wakayama from the city of Tainai in Niigata Prefecture, on Thursday on suspicion of negligent driving resulting in death and injury. Wakayama admitted to the allegations, telling the police, “I was too optimistic about the speed.” He is suspected of letting the microbus crash into items including the guardrail around 7:40 a.m. Wednesday, leaving Inagaki dead and 17 others injured. The guardrail is at a gentle right curve near the interchange, and the speed limit on the section is 80 kilometers per hour. Wakayama told the police that the microbus was driving at 90-100 kph at the time of the accident. He does not have a commercial driving license. The microbus was carrying 20 members of the soft tennis club of Hokuetsu High School, a private school in the city of Niigata. All of them other than Inagaki were taken to hospital. None of them are in a life-threatening condition. Following the microbus crash, a truck crashed into the bent guardrail, leaving two people with minor injuries. According to Kanbara Tetsudo Co., a bus operator in the Niigata Prefecture city of Gosen, adjacent to the city of Niigata, a marketing employee rented the microbus from a car rental company under the name of Kanbara Tetsudo after receiving a request from the high school. Wakayama is not an employee of Kanbara Tetsudo. The marketing employee asked him through an acquaintance to drive the bus. The driver’s license presented to the rental company was that of the employee. On Thursday morning, four officials from the Hokuriku-Shinetsu District Transport Bureau of the Japanese transport ministry conducted an on-site inspection of Kanbara Tetsudo, interviewing staff about the circumstances related to the accident. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]