A minivan carrying five construction workers plunged about 70 meters down a cliff off an icy road Tuesday in a mountainous area of Akita Prefecture, killing all five, police said Wednesday.
The wreckage of the van, owned by Tosei, a local construction company, was found by employees in the village of Higashinaruse at around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, they said.
The five are Yukio Bizen, 69, president of the company, Yoshiki Tanifuji, 69, Masaaki Tsuchiya, 78, Shigeo Suzuki, 67, and Zenichiro Tanifuji, 69, all of whom were employees. They were taken to a hospital but were later confirmed dead.