Four teenage boys were killed Saturday morning when the station wagon they were traveling in struck a utility poll on a prefectural road in the town of Waki, Tokushima Prefecture, police said.
According to police, the vehicle, which was carrying a total of eight passengers, crashed into the poll at about 4:30 a.m. and toppled over onto its side.
The six men and two women, all 17 or 18 years old, were rushed to a nearby hospital but four of the boys were dead on arrival, they said.
The four have been identified as Yuji Sanehira, Ryoji Kasai, Seiki Sato -- all 18-year-old high school students -- and Yusuke Masaki, an 18-year-old construction worker, police said.
All six boys used to be classmates in the same junior high school in Waki, they said.
Police are investigating the cause of the accident and trying to determine who was driving the vehicle at the time.