Fourth body pulled from Japan train wreckage

Railway workers and investigators work around the wrecked cars of an express train after its derailment in Shonai, northern Japan, yesterday. PHOTO: AP/KYODO NEWS

Rescue workers yesterday pulled the body of a fourth passenger from the twisted and snow-blown wreckage of a train that crashed in northern Japan after derailing during a blizzard.

Five of the train's six carriages left the tracks in strong winds late Sunday north of Tokyo.

Three carriages toppled over and the front car slammed into a rail-side shack, local police said.

Rescuers crawling through wrecked carriages during a severe snowstorm had found the bodies of three passengers by early yesterday.

Some 33 other passengers were injured in the accident.

As the ongoing snowstorm blanketed the wrecked train, rescuers pulled out the final body of a trapped passenger shortly after 9am, some 14 hours after the accident had occured.

"We presume he was already dead when he was rescued ... as he was not breathing and no heartbeat was felt," said a fire department official.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called the accident "regrettable," telling reporters: "We must make sure we find the cause while treating the injured people."

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe promised to make "all-out efforts to prevent a recurrence."

Rescue efforts were hampered by the bad weather as well as difficulty accessing the damaged carriages.

"Inside the train was a mess while snow and winds were blowing into shattered windows," the fire department official said.

"Besides, the accident site was in the middle of snow-covered rice fields. It was difficult for large vehicles to go through narrow farm roads."

The train derailed in strong winds soon after it crossed a bridge over a river, police said.

It was travelling between Amarume and Sakata stations on the Uetsu Line, 350km north of the capital, carrying 44 passengers and two crew when it derailed.

Television footage showed the carriages lying on their sides and partially torn open.

Train operator JR East apologized for the accident.

"We would like to apologize deeply to the people killed and injured as well as to their relatives," JR East president Mutsutake Otsuka told a pre-dawn news conference.

The company reported that the train driver, who survived the crash, had applied the brakes manually after hearing an unusual sound.

"Strong winds hit the train after it passed the bridge, lifting it off," Jiji Press news agency quoted the driver, 29-year-old Takashi Suzuki, as telling police.

Due to heavy snow, the train is believed to have been running more than one hour behind schedule, JR East said.

Many parts of Japan have been hit by record snowfall and storms this month. At least nine people have died due to unusually heavy snow in Fukui, in central Japan, since Dec. 14, a municipal official said.

Some 107 people were killed and around 550 injured when a commuter train jumped the tracks and smashed into an apartment tower in the western city of Amagasaki in April, in Japan's worst rail accident since 1963.