A six-year-old girl died after she was hit by a train in Tondabayashi, Osaka Prefecture, on Saturday.
According to police, the incident occurred at around 11:20 a.m. on train tracks along the Kintetsu Nagano Line about 500 meters from Kishi Station, Fuji TV reported. Police said the driver told them he saw the girl sitting on a slope right beside the tracks about 25 meters ahead and applied the emergency brake but couldn’t stop in time.
Police said the side of the train hit the girl, Tsuyu Masuda. She was taken to hospital with severe head injuries but was pronounced dead on arrival.
The top of the slope where she was sitting is in an area with many rice fields. There is no fence between the top of the slope and the tracks.
Police said Tsuyu had come with her younger sister and their mother from Gojo, Nara Prefecture, to visit her grandparents for the day. Her mother had gone out and left her children with her grandparents who live nearby. The grandmother told police Tsuyu had gone outside by herself to play.
© Japan Today
22 Comments
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Bjorn Tomention
Wow, how tragic but how careless are some parents guardians, care givers, poor train driver , no chance.
He should not be arrested and charged with anything though, unlike if he was driving a car and this same situation happened..................stupid law that is.
Charge the damn parents or guardian with child neglect , don't charge the poor person doing everything correctly..... as they woul for motor vehicle drivers in the same situation.
Chico3
Wow! This really hits home, since I know that area. There are lots of open and unfenced areas in that part of town. Definitely a lesson in watching your kids, especially where there are trains and cars. RIP young lady. Very sad and tragic news.
Ricky Sanchez
I have seen hundreds of deaths, I have seen war. This situation is not pretty! This could have been avoided if someone was watching the little girl. RIP Angel! See you on the other side!
Ascissor
Kintetsu needs to put some kind of fencing up.
NOMINATION
Actually it is the Kintetsu Kawachi Nagano Line.
buffalo
Sheesh. This is a tragedy.
Laguna
Agree to a point - but no news stories are written about kids who are let out for the day and return safely. As a parent, I worried constantly about my kids when they were out and about - but that's the price you must bare when being a parent. It is a tragedy, but it has nothing to do with carelessness.
Jonathan Prin
Train tracks accessible to the public and kids under age of reason roaming freely = parental neglect
Thomas Tank
Was she deaf? How did she manage NOT to step away or fall down the slop away from the tracks when the train came and blared its horn??? Terribly sad!
They aught to equip trains with some kind of punching cushion that (relatively) gently bumps people out of the way.
snowymountainhell
Tragic for this family.
Mark
Sad and unfortunate, just her luck, I pray for the little angle, Rest In Peace.
Kobe White Bar Owner
Heywa bokai will bite you in the ass! The unnecessary risk I see daily at my 4yo would make any western patent make a comment time for lesson in logic and common sense time! RIP
mmwkdw
No Parent, wherever, should have to grieve for the loss of their Children... this is heartbreakingly sad.
Concerned Citizen
Then put one there immediately and anywhere else children, alzheimer's patients and suicidal people have easy access to tracks.
Kobe White Bar Owner
Oh put a sock in it!
The parent are to blame, full stop and no discussion! The amount of visual, emotional and physical neglect that is a daily ok here is exactly why b cluster personality disorders are intertwined with the national continuances.
albaleo
When I was six, we used to play away from our parents, and sometimes ventured near dangerous areas (train lines, quarries). We loved it. And we loved our parents.
This is an ugly tragedy. I don't think apportioning blame will help anyone. Let's just hope lessons are learned and we can prevent something similar happening again.
(I know Tondabayashi and Gojo. We used to take our kids to both places. So this story hits me quite hard.)
iradickle
Really just not a good idea to let a 6yo go out by themselves, especially if you know there are train tracks nearby.
Toasted Heretic
RIP.
Who knows what horrors and grief the parents and family are going through right now.
Wow. Incisive and sensitive.
ReynardFox
uhh how fast do you think trains go?
sir_bentley28
This is why when my 6year old goes outside to play, I tell him to stay in a specific area so I can see him at all times from inside. He knows not to leave the side of the house.
Jonathan Prin
Some here have no responsibility or have not been parents or worse, are not aware of what are stupid risks, because that's what it is.
And of course, needless to say RIP to the girl.
But I shall not have to say it if parental (family) neglect was not so rampant in Japan.
And their demography is dropping like a stone !