2 Dead, 5 Injured Due to Heavy Snowfall in Niigata

Niigata, Dec. 20 (Jiji Press)--Two people died and five others were injured in accidents related to heavy snowfall in Niigata Prefecture, central Japan, Tuesday, prefectural officials and police said.

A man in his 80s in the city of Kashiwazaki died after falling into a river while removing snow. A 27-year-old woman who was apparently staying inside a car, parked near her house in Kashiwazaki, for warmth died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Of the five people injured, two suffered severe injuries. A man in his 70s in Kashiwazaki got his fingers caught in a snowplow. Another man in his 70s in the city of Niigata suffered a brain hemorrhage after falling off the roof of a garage while cleaning snow.

Vehicles remained stranded on sections of National Route 17 in the cities of Nagaoka and Ojiya as of Tuesday evening.

Traffic disruption on a section of National Route 8 in Kashiwazaki was almost fully resolved on Tuesday afternoon after over 800 vehicles were stuck at one point.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]