Twelve people, including several foreign tourists, were injured Friday in a traffic accident involving a bus, a tractor trailer and a passenger car in Furano, Hokkaido, police said.
Of those injured, the driver of the bus and nine foreign nationals were sent to a hospital, police and local rescue authorities said. Their injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.
The drivers of the truck and passenger car also sustained injuries, the authorities said.
Police said the surface of the two-lane road was covered with packed snow and ice at the time of the accident, about 8:40 a.m.
As the truck, which was heading south, slipped on the icy road, its trailer crossed over to the opposite lane and hit the right front portion of the bus, which had been heading north, the police said.
Just before that collision, the trailer lightly hit the car as well.