4 Workers Killed by Train in Eastern Japan's Tochigi Pref.

Kanuma, Tochigi Pref., Aug. 20 (Jiji Press)--Four male workers in their 50s and 60s died on Thursday after being hit by a limited express train at a station in Tochigi Prefecture, eastern Japan.

The accident happened around 10:45 a.m. at Shin-Kanuma Station on Tobu Railway Co.'s Nikko Line in the city of Kanuma.

According to the railway operator, the four were engaged in weed clearing work near the tracks under the station platform. They were hit by the six-car Spacia X train, bound for Tokyo's Asakusa Station from Tobu-Nikko Station in Tochigi.

The four were Kazuyoshi Ishikawa, 67, from Utsunomiya in Tochigi, Toshihiko Watanabe, 65, also from Utsunomiya, Shigenobu Oke, 53, from Nikko, and Kazunari Sato, 54, also from Nikko, the Tochigi prefectural police department said.

Tobu Railway officials, including Takao Suzuki, head of its railway business division, held a press conference in Tokyo on Thursday afternoon. "We deeply apologize to the bereaved families," Suzuki said. "We will thoroughly implement measures to prevent a recurrence so that such a serious accident never happens again," he added.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]