A minibus crashed into a telephone pole in southwestern Japan on Thursday, injuring all 19 passengers, as well as the driver, police and firefighters said.
The 13 women and seven men, many of them foreign nationals working at a local food processing plant, were taken to a hospital following the accident at around 6:30 a.m. in Kasuya, Fukuoka Prefecture. They were all conscious and did not have life-threatening injuries, the authorities said.
The minibus was on its way to the plant when it crashed on a straight road around 2 kilometers northeast of Fukuoka Airport.
The driver, a man in his 60s, said he had dozed off at the wheel and suddenly swerved the bus to avoid another vehicle, the police said, adding they were investigating whether the accident was a case of negligent driving causing injury.