SHIZUOKA (Kyodo) An overnight bus traveling from Mie Prefecture to Tokyo Disneyland collided with a trailer truck on the Tomei Expressway in Shizuoka Prefecture early Monday, injuring 26 passengers and the driver of the bus, police said.
The driver, Hirotaro Nishiuchi, 51, and eight passengers suffered serious injuries, the police said, including broken bones and facial lacerations, the police said.
The condition of the remaining passengers, including teens on summer vacation, was not immediately known.
Satoru Toshimitsu, 51, the driver of the trailer truck, was not injured in the accident, which occurred shortly after 3 a.m. in Fuji-Nakazato.
According to the police, the collision occurred when the truck, which had stopped on the shoulder, tried to enter the main lanes. Police later interviewed Toshimitsu to obtain further details.
The bus was heading for Tokyo Disneyland in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, after leaving Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, on Sunday night.
The bus is operated by Komono Tobu Kotsu Co., based in Komono, Mie Prefecture.
Due to the accident, Tokyo-bound lanes between the Fuji and Numazu interchanges in Shizuoka Prefecture were closed for about three hours.
Truck driver arrested
MAEBASHI Gunma Pref. (Kyodo) A 63-year-old man was arrested Sunday on suspicion of driving away after hitting and killing an Irishman with his truck on a road in Tomioka, Gunma Prefecture, police said.
The suspect, Masami Wakabayashi of Mie Prefecture, admitted to the allegations, saying he fled because he was scared, the police said.
The body of Alan Buckley, 32, an English teacher, was found early Sunday on National Road 254. He was not wearing any clothes and appeared to have been drinking, they said.
Buckley arrived in Japan in July 2009 and was teaching English at three elementary and junior high schools in Tomioka under the Japan Exchange and Teaching program.
