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50 Dead in Japan Rail Disaster!
50 dead in Japan rail disaster
Monday, April 25, 2005 Posted: 6:50 AM EDT (1050 GMT)
Rescuers try to free victims from the train wreckage.
TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- A packed commuter train left the tracks and slammed into an apartment building, killing 50 people and injuring more than 340 others in Japan's deadliest rail accident in four decades.
The seven-car train carrying 580 passengers derailed in an urban area near Osaka in central Japan -- about 400 km (255 miles) west of Tokyo -- at 9:20 a.m. Monday (8:20 p.m. Sunday EDT).
As darkness fell about nine hours after the accident, rescue workers were trying to free several people believed to be alive in the wreckage. Police and fire officials said they feared the death toll would rise.
Train operator Japan Rail West said at least 343 people had been taken to hospitals, The Associated Press reported.
It was not clear how many of the dead and injured were passengers, or if bystanders and apartment residents were among the victims.
The train hit several vehicles before slamming into a nine-story apartment complex just 6 meters (20 feet) from the tracks.
Five cars derailed, and one car was left wrapped around the building's first-floor car park.
"The first train car (is) totally crashed into the building and it looks ... so flat," witness Daisuke Kashio told CNN.
Railway and government officials were investigating the cause of the accident.
The train overran the stop line at the last station before the wreck, and the driver -- who had been on the job for 11 months -- had been given a warning after overrunning a station in June 2004, AP reported.
Railway officials said the driver was accompanied by a 15-year veteran conductor.
The railway is investigating reports that the train was running more than a minute late.
Japan Rail West representatives said they're not sure how fast the train was going at the time it derailed, but noted it would have to be traveling at more than 133 km/h (83 mph) to derail due to excess speed.
"There was a violent shaking, and the next moment I was thrown to the floor ... and I landed on top of a pile of other people," passenger Tatsuya Akashi told Japanese broadcaster NHK.
"I didn't know what happened, and there were many people bleeding," AP quoted Akashi as saying
Akashi, who had been on his way to work, said it felt as if the train speeded up as it went around a curve.
"I thought there were some strange swings, and then the train derailed. No one knew what happened and everyone kept screaming," he said. "I've got a lot of blood on my clothes."
Another man who was on board the train said, "I was standing. The train driver hit the brakes all of a sudden, making a loud sound. The train shook violently. I tried to hold onto a handrail, but the train shook so hard I let go, fell on the ground and my leg was hit hard. Everyone was panicking."
Passengers said the train had been late leaving the previous station, and photos taken by an NHK reporter aboard the train showed passengers piled on the floor and some clawing to escape from the busted shells of the cars.
"The train over-ran a stop at the previous station and so it backtracked," a visibly shaken man in his 20s, his face bloodied, told NHK. "So I guess the driver was in a hurry because the train was running late.
"The train was moving so fast, we hit a turn and I didn't think we'd make it," Reuters quoted the man as saying. "Then the train derailed."
Hundreds of rescue workers and police swarmed the wreckage with stretchers and blankets to reach survivors and tend to the injured.
Rescuers in hard hats used cutting tools and ropes to peel away the crumpled metal entrapping several people and get inside the rail cars.
Witnesses said there were not enough stretchers so rescuers had to use train seats to carry out the injured.
Investigators and officials struggled to come up with reasons for the crash.
"There are many theories but we don't know for sure what caused the accident," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said. "The prime minister instructed us to respond with urgency."
The rail company apologized.
"We do not know yet the cause of the accident," Japan Rail West President Takeshi Kakiuchi told reporters.
"Our most important task now is to rescue the passengers from the accident and we are doing our best."
Tsunemi Murakami, the train operator's safety director, estimated the train would have to have been going 133 km/h (82 mph) to jump the track purely because of excessive speed.
The crash happened at a curve after a straightaway which would have required the driver to slow to a speed of 70 km/h (43 mph).
Railway officials were checking the train's automatic braking system to see if it was operating properly.
Kyodo News reported the automatic braking system at that stretch of track is among the oldest in Japan. The system stops trains at signs of trouble without requiring drivers to take emergency action.
The accident was the worst rail disaster in nearly 42 years in Japan, where deadly train accidents are rare.
A three-train crash in November 1963 killed 161 people in Tsurumi, outside Tokyo.
In Japan's last major accident, five people were killed and 33 were injured in March 2000, when a Tokyo subway hit a derailed train.
An accident killed 42 people in April 1991 in Shigaraki, western Japan.
An earthquake in 2004 caused a bullet train to derail -- the first since the high-speed trains went into service 40 years ago.
Japan is home to one of the world's most complex and heavily traveled rail networks.
Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
Monday, April 25, 2005 Posted: 6:50 AM EDT (1050 GMT)
Rescuers try to free victims from the train wreckage.
TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- A packed commuter train left the tracks and slammed into an apartment building, killing 50 people and injuring more than 340 others in Japan's deadliest rail accident in four decades.
The seven-car train carrying 580 passengers derailed in an urban area near Osaka in central Japan -- about 400 km (255 miles) west of Tokyo -- at 9:20 a.m. Monday (8:20 p.m. Sunday EDT).
As darkness fell about nine hours after the accident, rescue workers were trying to free several people believed to be alive in the wreckage. Police and fire officials said they feared the death toll would rise.
Train operator Japan Rail West said at least 343 people had been taken to hospitals, The Associated Press reported.
It was not clear how many of the dead and injured were passengers, or if bystanders and apartment residents were among the victims.
The train hit several vehicles before slamming into a nine-story apartment complex just 6 meters (20 feet) from the tracks.
Five cars derailed, and one car was left wrapped around the building's first-floor car park.
"The first train car (is) totally crashed into the building and it looks ... so flat," witness Daisuke Kashio told CNN.
Railway and government officials were investigating the cause of the accident.
The train overran the stop line at the last station before the wreck, and the driver -- who had been on the job for 11 months -- had been given a warning after overrunning a station in June 2004, AP reported.
Railway officials said the driver was accompanied by a 15-year veteran conductor.
The railway is investigating reports that the train was running more than a minute late.
Japan Rail West representatives said they're not sure how fast the train was going at the time it derailed, but noted it would have to be traveling at more than 133 km/h (83 mph) to derail due to excess speed.
"There was a violent shaking, and the next moment I was thrown to the floor ... and I landed on top of a pile of other people," passenger Tatsuya Akashi told Japanese broadcaster NHK.
"I didn't know what happened, and there were many people bleeding," AP quoted Akashi as saying
Akashi, who had been on his way to work, said it felt as if the train speeded up as it went around a curve.
"I thought there were some strange swings, and then the train derailed. No one knew what happened and everyone kept screaming," he said. "I've got a lot of blood on my clothes."
Another man who was on board the train said, "I was standing. The train driver hit the brakes all of a sudden, making a loud sound. The train shook violently. I tried to hold onto a handrail, but the train shook so hard I let go, fell on the ground and my leg was hit hard. Everyone was panicking."
Passengers said the train had been late leaving the previous station, and photos taken by an NHK reporter aboard the train showed passengers piled on the floor and some clawing to escape from the busted shells of the cars.
"The train over-ran a stop at the previous station and so it backtracked," a visibly shaken man in his 20s, his face bloodied, told NHK. "So I guess the driver was in a hurry because the train was running late.
"The train was moving so fast, we hit a turn and I didn't think we'd make it," Reuters quoted the man as saying. "Then the train derailed."
Hundreds of rescue workers and police swarmed the wreckage with stretchers and blankets to reach survivors and tend to the injured.
Rescuers in hard hats used cutting tools and ropes to peel away the crumpled metal entrapping several people and get inside the rail cars.
Witnesses said there were not enough stretchers so rescuers had to use train seats to carry out the injured.
Investigators and officials struggled to come up with reasons for the crash.
"There are many theories but we don't know for sure what caused the accident," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said. "The prime minister instructed us to respond with urgency."
The rail company apologized.
"We do not know yet the cause of the accident," Japan Rail West President Takeshi Kakiuchi told reporters.
"Our most important task now is to rescue the passengers from the accident and we are doing our best."
Tsunemi Murakami, the train operator's safety director, estimated the train would have to have been going 133 km/h (82 mph) to jump the track purely because of excessive speed.
The crash happened at a curve after a straightaway which would have required the driver to slow to a speed of 70 km/h (43 mph).
Railway officials were checking the train's automatic braking system to see if it was operating properly.
Kyodo News reported the automatic braking system at that stretch of track is among the oldest in Japan. The system stops trains at signs of trouble without requiring drivers to take emergency action.
The accident was the worst rail disaster in nearly 42 years in Japan, where deadly train accidents are rare.
A three-train crash in November 1963 killed 161 people in Tsurumi, outside Tokyo.
In Japan's last major accident, five people were killed and 33 were injured in March 2000, when a Tokyo subway hit a derailed train.
An accident killed 42 people in April 1991 in Shigaraki, western Japan.
An earthquake in 2004 caused a bullet train to derail -- the first since the high-speed trains went into service 40 years ago.
Japan is home to one of the world's most complex and heavily traveled rail networks.
Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.