Tokyo subway crash claims four lives; investigation under way

'I saw a lump of metal penetrating my car'

Officials said the fatalities in Wednesday's derailment were the first in the history of the Tokyo subway system

March 8, 2000
Web posted at: 1:29 p.m. HKT (0529 GMT)

TOKYO (CNN) -- Investigators are trying to determine what caused a Tokyo commuter train to derail during rush hour Wednesday morning, killing four people and injuring at least 40 others.

Rescuers said some of the injured were in critical condition. Tokyo Fire Department spokesman Fukui Isozaki said along with the deceased -- which included a man and a woman -- four people were unconscious shortly after the accident.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known, police said, adding they were treating it as an accident. An initial media report said the crash was caused by an explosion, but Japanese officials denied the report.

The crash -- part of the train derailed and sideswiped an oncoming train - - occurred during morning rush hour. The train that derailed had about 240 passengers onboard while the other train had approximately 1,300 people aboard, the fire department said.

VIDEO CNN's Marina Kamimura shows the wreckage. QuickTime Play Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K     MESSAGE BOARD Japan

The derailment occurred at 9:13 a.m. Wednesday (7:13 p.m. ET Tuesday) at Nakameguro station in downtown Tokyo. The train was outbound from central Tokyo when it derailed.

CNN's Tokyo Bureau Chief Marina Kamimura said the train, headed for Yokohama, was leaving a tunnel when the rear end derailed and collided with an inbound train.

Subway spokeswoman Sachie Uehara said the train that derailed was traveling at less than 40 km/h (25 mph). The other train, she added, was reducing its speed before arriving at the station.

The collision sheared off the wall of one of the train's rear cars, ripping out the cushioned seats. Chunks of buckled metal and other debris littered the scene.

"I saw a huge lump of metal penetrating my car, and everybody was panicking," a 21-year-old commuter told Japanese broadcasting company NHK. "Many passengers were collapsing."

Officials of the train company, Eidon, said the fatalities were the first accident-related deaths in the subway's history.

Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi convened a crisis management center at his residence within an hour of the accident.

An injured passenger is rushed to a hospital following the derailment

Tadao Ando, an official with the Cabinet's Crisis Management Office, said there was no evidence of sabotage or any criminal act in the accident.

Service was quickly resumed on some parts of the subway line, but throughout the morning tens of thousands of passengers were directed to use other trains or buses to get to work.

"I didn't hear an explosion but I felt a huge shock," said one passenger who was riding on the train a few cars away from the damaged car.

One official said the train had been derailed on a line shared by subways and overground trains.

Witnesses at the scene said that injured passengers, some bleeding, were carried away on stretchers and taken to hospital. The names of some 10 to 15 injured passengers had been written on a blackboard at the site.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Tokyo Rapid Transit Authority
Guide to Tokyo Subways

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