High School Arranged Buses through Local Firm Also before Fatal Crash

Niigata, May 11 (Jiji Press)--A private high school in Niigata Prefecture, central Japan, one of whose students was killed in a microbus crash last week said Sunday that it had arranged buses through Kanbara Tetsudo Co., a local bus operator, multiple times also in the past.

The microbus carrying 20 member students of the soft tennis club of Hokuetsu High School in the city of Niigata crashed into a guardrail on the Ban-Etsu Expressway in the city of Koriyama in neighboring Fukushima Prefecture on Wednesday, leaving 17-year-old Hiroto Inagaki dead and many other students injured.

The microbus was rented from a car rental shop through Kanbara Tetsudo and driven by a man who does not have a commercial driving license.

At a press conference held in the city of Niigata on Sunday, Koji Terao, a Hokuetsu High School teacher in charge of supervising the tennis club, said that he was not on board the microbus, which was packed with luggage, and that he therefore drove to the destination in his own car.

He said: "I was unable to prevent the tragedy although I was in a position to take the students to the destination safely. I would like to offer my sincere apology."

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]