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A woman in a motorized wheelchair was hit and killed by a train on a crossing in Takasago, Hyogo Prefecture.
According to police, the incident occurred at around 3:30 p.m. Friday at a crossing on the JR West Sanyo Main Line, Fuji TV reported.
JR West said the train driver saw the woman in the wheelchair on the crossing about 300 meters away and applied the emergency brake but couldn’t stop in time. The train hit the woman, who was in her 70s, pushing the wheelchair along for about 60 meters. Police said she was already dead by the time they arrived at the scene.
None of the 300 passengers on the train were injured. JR West said services were delayed for about one hour and 40 minutes.
Police said surveillance camera footage showed the woman in the wheelchair go onto the crossing and then apparently it got stuck just after the crossing gates came down. The footage showed the woman frantically trying to get the chair moving and waving her hands.
© Japan Today
6 Comments
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Tohka
Dreadful. Absolutely dreadful for all involved.
puregaijin
yes. With regular braking and on full load. These parameters are established by repeated physical tests. On emergency brakes, it should usually be around 250m. Of course, I’m not privy to a lot more required info here. And by the way, this one went at least 360, not 300. 300 is when the driver spotted the chair.
Luddite
Horrible. Poor woman. Poor driver.
puregaijin
Very very sad. She literally saw her death coming :(
300 meters and the so called EMERGENCY brakes couldn’t stop the train?? And 3:30 PM doesn’t suggest rush hour load either!!! Something odd here. I know it’d depend on the train’s speed too, but something just seems off to me.
Speed
That's incredibly sad. I wonder if there were any people nearby who could've helped her.