26 injured as train topples in Japan
Twenty-five passengers and the driver were injured when a train derailed in western Japan.
The two-carriage train, operated by West Japan Railway Company, toppled on its side while travelling in mountainous areas between Makiyama and Tamagashi stations in Okayama state, about 340 miles west of Tokyo, police spokesman Hirofumi Yamazaki said.
Those who were injured were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment, Yamazaki said.
Kyodo News agency said none of their injuries was life threatening, though two people were seriously hurt.
Investigators found a large rock near the rail tracks which cut through the mountainside, Yamazaki said.
The cause of the accident was still being investigated, but the rock, which had apparently rolled down from the mountain, might have hit the tracks and damaged them, he said.
Yesterday’s derailment comes a year and half after a West Japan Railway-operated train derailed in another western Japanese city, killing 106 passengers in the nation’s worst train accident in decades.
In that derailment during the morning rush hour on April 25 last year, the train jumped the tracks and smashed into an apartment building in Amagasaki as the driver was overspeeding to make up for the delay in earlier stops.
The crash, which forced West JR to relax train schedules and forced the government to review safety standards, had triggered public anger at the transport company.
