A minivehicle rolled over in the city of Nabari in Mie Prefecture in the small hours of Friday, killing five of the six people riding in it.
At around 12:10 a.m., police received an emergency call from a passerby reporting that a car had rolled over on Route 165, a national highway, and that three people were lying bleeding on the road.
Officers from the Mie Prefectural Police department rushed to the scene and found six people, who appeared to be in their teens to 30s, lying outside the car.
They were taken to a hospital by ambulance, with two males and three females confirmed dead. The remaining person, a male, sustained serious but not life-threatening injuries, according to the police. Police are working to confirm their identities.
The minivehicle had a seating capacity of four adults.
The accident occurred on a slow curve, which has one lane in each direction. Near the scene of the accident, the police found scratches on the curb and damage to a utility pole that appeared to have been caused by the car.
The police are investigating the detailed cause of the accident, suspecting that the driver may have mishandled the steering due to the vehicle exceeding its passenger capacity.
The car is believed to have been heading for Tsu, the capital of Mie, from Nabari.
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