Rescuers untangling Japan's worst train crash in decades uncovered body after body in the wreckage yesterday to put the death toll at 95, but grim work remained in accounting for the dozens still missing, including the driver at the center of the investigation into the wreck.
A probe into possible negligence by operator West Japan Railway Co (JR West) has focused on the 23-year-old driver, his lack of experience and suspicions that the train was speeding before it derailed and slammed into an apartment building on Monday. At least 456 people were injured.
Rescuers at the crash site in Amagasaki, about 410km west of Tokyo, found at least 13 bodies in the early hours yesterday, police said. They also found a body seated at the front of the train and believed to be that of the 23-year-old driver Ryujiro Takami, but that hadn't been confirmed.
The death toll was expected to rise further, with an unknown number of victims still in the wreckage. JR West said 47 people are unaccounted for. Rescue workers used power shovels to peel away the twisted metal of the two worst-damaged train cars, flattened against the apartment building.
Transportation Minister Kazuo Kitagawa indicated the government would order JR West to review the way it operates after it completes its investigation into the accident.
"The driver had only 11 months of experience and we can only say that JR West's employee training and its tests to evaluate the suitability of drivers had problems," Kitagawa said. "I would like to issue instructions to them based on the results of our investigation."
Amid rising concerns about train safety, a car in central Japan crashed into a train as it was passing through a rail crossing yesterday morning. The car's driver was seriously injured and was taken to a nearby hospital, but none of the 130 passengers on the train were hurt.
Investigators found the train's "black box," a computer chip that stores information about the time and train's speed in the final seconds before an accident. They cautioned that the contents would take some time to analyze.
Police suspected the train was going 100km when it hit the curve where it derailed -- well above the 70km speed limit.
Investigators said the driver may have been shaken after over-running the last station by 40m and falling 90 seconds behind schedule.
The driver got his train operator's license last May. One month later, he overran a station and was issued a warning for his mistake, railway officials and police said.
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