SAGA (TR) – Saga Prefectural Police are investigating what is believed to have been a double suicide after a teenage boy and girl were hit and killed by a train in Saga City on Monday, reports NHK (May 14).
At around 9:00 p.m., the boy and girl, both 16, were hit by a local JR Nagasaki Main Line train at a railway crossing in the Nabeshimamachi area.
Both persons were later confirmed dead at a hospital. The 71 passengers on the train were not hurt in the incident, police said.
The crossing, located about 400 meters from Nabeshima Station, includes a gate and a warning bell.
The driver of the train was quoted as saying that the boy and girl crossed past the gate and onto the tracks, leading police to believe that they took their lives intentionally. “I applied the brakes but it was not in time,” the driver said.
The boy and the girl are both second-year high school students living in Saga City. Police are now speaking with the families of both students to learn about what circumstances led to the incident.