Three teenagers were killed and three others injured in a head-on collision between a van and a truck early Wednesday in the town of Kunimi, Fukushima Prefecture, local police said.
Yuta Suzuki, an 18-year-old student from Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, who was driving the van, and two of his four passengers, 19-year-old Mitsuru Sato, and Mitsuhiro Yusa, 18, both from Miyagi Prefecture, died from skull fractures suffered in the 3:50 a.m. accident, they said.
The other three people -- Jin Watanabe, a 29-year-old truck driver from the town of Zao, Miyagi Prefecture, and Suzuki's remaining two passengers -- suffered injuries, they said.
According to police, the van swerved into the oncoming lane and collided head-on with the truck on a straight road.
The five teenagers riding in Suzuki's van were schoolmates who lived together in a dorm in Iwanuma, Miyagi Prefecture, the police said.