6 injured as car plows into school kids in Western Japan

October 18, 2017

TOKYO- A car plowed into a group of elementary school children in Hirakata, Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, Wednesday morning, with five of them and a passerby suffering minor injuries and sent to hospital, local police and fire authorities said.

The injuries are not life-threatening, and the six are conscious, according to the authorities. The accident happened on a street near Tonoyama first elementary school around 8:10 a.m. (11:10 p.m. Tuesday GMT).

The five children, aged between 6 and 12, suffered bruises or scratches, after being hit by the car or falling down when trying to escape.

The passerby, a 55-year-old female teacher at a junior high school next to the elementary school, was hit by the vehicle and sustained a bruise on her right arm.

The police arrested the driver, Takaaki Kitamaki, a 21-year-old jobless man in Hirakata, at the scene on suspicion of negligent driving resulting in injury.

Kitamaki told the police that he steered in the wrong direction as the sun was in his eyes. The police are investigating details of the accident. Jiji Press