28/04/2005

Japan train crash – driver’s body recovered

The body of the driver of a train, which crashed in Japan earlier this week, has been recovered.

It was confirmed that the body of 23-year-old Ryujiro Takami was found in the wreckage of the commuter train, which derailed and smashed into an apartment building in Amagasaki on Monday.

It has also been confirmed that the death toll in the crash has now reached 106. More than 450 people have been injured.

Reports have indicated that the train was travelling faster that it should have been when the crash occurred. The train is also believed to have been running late.

Mr Takami was also a relatively inexperienced driver, who had only 11 months experience. It has also been reported that he had already received one warning after he overran a station.

Investigators into the crash are believed to have searched the offices of railway operator West Japan Railway, looking for evidence of possible professional negligence.

Monday’s accident was the worst to occur in Japan for forty years. In 1963, over 160 people were killed following a collision between a freight train and two commuter trains. The last major accident to occur on a Japanese railway happened in 1991, when two trains collided at Shigaraki, killing 42 people.

Japanese railways are regarded as being among the safest in the world.

(KMcA/SP)

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