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Yamanashi head-on crash leaves 1 dead, 17 hurt

A minibus crashed in Yamanashi Prefecture, leaving 1 person dead
A minibus crashed in Yamanashi Prefecture, leaving 1 person dead

YAMANASHI (TR) – A minibus collided head-on into a station wagon here on Sunday, killing a bus passenger and injuring 17.

Heiachi Shiozaki, 67, who runs an izakaya, was sitting near the back of the minibus when it rammed head-on into the station wagon at an intersection in the Kamiyoshida district of Fujiyoshida City, causing him to be thrown outside where he died shortly after sustaining heavy injuries to his chest, the Mainichi Shimbun reports (June 5).

Emergency responders said 20 people were sent to the hospital with 16 sustaining non-life-threatening injuries and one woman in serious condition.

Police are investigating the cause of the incident.

The crash occurred at a single-lane intersection without traffic lights. Police said there was a stop sign on the station wagon’s lane.

The mini-bus was carrying 14 passengers in their 20s to 60s. The station wagon was carrying a four-month-old baby and five passengers.

The Yomiuri Shimbun quoted Fujiyoshida Station Police as saying that the minibus was a rental with a Shinagawa license plate.

According to passengers on the bus, they were all customers or relatives of Shiozaki’s izakaya on a day trip to Lake Kawaguchi.