JAPAN: A crowded Japanese commuter train derailed early yesterday, slamming into an apartment building, killing at least 56 people and injuring over 400 in the country's worst rail accident in more than 40 years.
The packed train derailed at Amagasaki, about 400km west of Tokyo, just after rush hour yesterday morning, slamming into an apartment block and throwing the 580 passengers forward into metal seats and windows.
The impact of the crash destroyed the front two carriages of the train where most of the most serious injuries occurred, and sent another carriage hurtling into the parking lot of the apartment block.
"The windows shattered and I had no idea what was happening," a middle-aged man told state broadcaster NHK. "The train seemed to have derailed and was totally out of control. I thought I was finished."
A reporter, Hiroshi Hisada, who was a passenger on the train, said: "There was a loud bang and I was sent flying. The next thing I knew the train was lying on its side and I could hear people inside the carriage saying 'help me'."
Another passenger, Sadao Hayashi, said: "The emergency brakes were suddenly applied and the people who were standing all tumbled forward. There were screams inside the carriage, and bags were lying everywhere. From the left window I could see a women-only carriage that had toppled over, and some women couldn't move. There were lots of injured people."
Transport Minister Kazuo Kitagawa, talking to reporters at the scene, said he was horrified by the carnage. "We will spare no effort to find out what happened," he said.
Japanese TV showed live pictures of the all-night efforts to rescue passengers still trapped in the wreckage, including the critically injured 23-year-old train driver Ryujiro Takami. Regular programmes were interrupted to show coverage of four badly-injured people being pulled alive from the wreckage of the first carriage. Many of the victims were students at a local university.
Much of the early speculation of the causes of the crash has centred on the relatively inexperienced driver, who started working for the train company just 11 months ago and who had been disciplined for carelessness last year. Survivors say the train overshot the platform at the previous station and was forced to reverse, losing at least 90 seconds. They say the driver then pushed the train past its normal speed to make up time.
"The train was shaking very strongly just before the crash," one survivor told NHK. "It was going round a corner when it crashed." Engineers have reportedly discovered what is described as grinding marks on the line, possibly indicating that a rock derailed the train.
The accident is Japan's worst since 1963 when 161 people were killed in a train collision near Tokyo, and has shocked a country which boasts probably the safest, most efficient transport system in the world.
The president of the train company, Takeshi Kakiuchi, visited the victims in hospital and later appeared on TV yesterday to apologise for the accident, saying he was filled with sorrow before promising a full inquiry. Prime minister Junichiro Koizumi said his office would help co-ordinate the agencies involved in the inquiry.
The inquiry is likely to focus on charges of negligence by the driver but also on the long term impact of the privatization of Japan's rail network in 1987, which led to charges by unions that passenger safety was being compromised.