Two people were killed and two others injured Saturday when they were hit by a car while standing on the side of the Chuo Expressway in Yamanashi Prefecture, police said.

The two killed in the 6:15 a.m. accident were named as Shinzo Yamamoto, 47, a company employee from Narashino, Chiba Prefecture, and his son Kazuya, 16, a high school student. Yamamoto's wife Tokiko, 47, and their other son, Takeshi, 19, were injured.

The driver of the passenger car, Takahiro Kasukabe, a 30-year-old company employee from Hachioji, Tokyo, was not injured.

According to the police, the four had left their own car after it was involved in a single-vehicle accident and were standing on the side of the road when they were struck.

Investigations show that the first accident occurred when the driver of the Yamamoto's car lost control on the iced-over road. Kasukabe's vehicle then slid on the ice and into the family, police said.

Ice blamed for deaths

SAITAMA (Kyodo) Two men were killed Saturday in separate early morning accidents -- believed to have been caused by icy roads -- in Saitama Prefecture, police said.

A car driven by 53-year-old Hiroshi Ozawa plunged into a river from a bridge on a highway in Kawaguchi at around 5:40 a.m., they said. Ozawa was rushed to a nearby hospital but pronounced dead shortly afterward.

In a separate accident around the same time, Chikara Abe, 57, fell off a motorbike on a highway in Misato. Police said he was killed when a car and a truck hit him.

The police believe both accidents were caused when the vehicles slipped on the frozen road surfaces.