Japan investigates deadly train wreck

By The Associated Press

AMAGASAKI, Japan -- Rescuers pulled two survivors -- but also more bodies -- from the gnarled wreckage of Japan's worst train crash in decades Tuesday, and investigators raided the rail operator's offices for clues about why the train skidded off the tracks, killing at least 78 people.

Power shovels picked at the piles of twisted railway cars, peeling away crushed metal to get into the two train cars that struck an apartment building in Monday's accident. Workers found more bodies Tuesday in the wreckage of the 580-passenger train, and an unknown number were still there, a police spokesman said. At least 456 people were injured.

Agents swarmed eight offices of West Japan Railway Co., carting away cardboard boxes of documents. The inquiry into possible professional negligence has focused on the actions of the 23-year-old driver -- who has not yet been accounted for -- and the speed of the train.

National broadcaster NHK reported that police suspected the train was going 65 mph when it hit the curve where it derailed - well above the 43 mph speed limit.

Workers freed two survivors from the wreckage early Tuesday, and police said they did not expect to find anyone else alive. Hiroki Hayashi, 19, was pulled from a damaged car after surviving the night with the help of an intravenous drip and drinking water.

"I'm in pain, I can't take it anymore," he told his mother by cell phone after the crash, according to his 18-year-old brother Takamichi Hayashi.

Hiroki Hayashi had a leg injury and was hospitalized in stable condition.

Victims' relatives struggled to comprehend their loss.

"I wish it were only a nightmare," Hiroko Kuki, whose son, Tetsuji, was killed in the crash, told NHK. "I only saw him the night before ... I wish he were alive somewhere."

In northern Japan, the lead car of a passenger train jumped the tracks when it crashed into a trailer at a crossing at Nimori on Tuesday in the second derailment in two days. The trailer's driver was slightly hurt.

The seven-car train that crashed Monday in Amagasaki was packed with passengers when it derailed near this Osaka suburb and plunged into the first floor of an apartment complex.

Government inspectors launched their accident investigation Tuesday by examining the tracks. They also hoped to recover a recorder with data on the train's speed and other details at the time of the accident.

Monday's accident occurred at a curve after a straightaway. Passengers speculated that the driver may have been speeding to make up for lost time after overshooting the previous station. The train had been nearly two minutes behind schedule, company officials said.

The driver -- identified as Ryujiro Takami -- got his train operator's license in May 2004. One month later, he overran a station and was issued a warning for his mistake, railway officials and police said.

They were investigating the case as possible professional negligence by the railway, a prefectural police spokesman said on condition of anonymity.

Deadly train accidents are rare in Japan. Monday's accident was the worst rail disaster in nearly 42 years in this safety-conscious country, which is home to one of the world's most complex and heavily traveled rail networks.