Two workers died Tuesday after being struck by about 2 tons of steel bars at a factory operated by a Suzuki Motor Corp. subsidiary in Akita Prefecture, police said.
Masaki Kyoya, 59, and Yutaka Ota, 53, were hit by a bundle of 20 steel bars each 5 cm in diameter and 8 meters long when Ota was trying to winch them out of a truck at around 8:40 a.m., the police said. They were pronounced dead at a hospital.
The accident took place at a factory in Ikawa run by Suzuki Akita Auto Parts MFG Co., a subsidiary of Suzuki Motor, and both men were employees of the company.