50 dead in Japan railway crash

At least 50 people are reported to have died – with some 300 injured – in what is being described as Japan’s worst rail crash for decades. The crash is reported to have happened shortly after 9am local time this morning (0200 GMT), with initial reports suggesting that the commuter train left the track and crashed into a building in the town of Amagasaki, near Osaka. The BBC News website states that the front carriage of the train “split into two” as it hit the block of flats. Passengers are quoted as saying that the train appeared to be travelling to fast before the disaster. The BBC quotes one as saying: “The train overran a stop at the previous station and so it backtracked, so I guess the driver was in a hurry because the train was running late.” The crash is reported to be the worst in Japan since 1963, when 161 people died in a three-train collision near Tokyo. Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad Ltd www.newsfromabroad.com