Taxi rams into Fukuoka hospital; 3 dead, 7 injured
CRIME DEC. 04, 2016 - 06:30AM JS
https://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/taxi-rams-into-fukuoka-hospital-3-dead-7-injured
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Taxi rams into Fukuoka hospital; 3 dead, 7 injured
CRIME DEC. 04, 2016 - 06:30AM JS
FUKUOKA — A taxi rammed into a hospital in Fukuoka on Saturday, leaving a married
couple and a man dead and seven injured, police said.
The police arrested Tatsuo Matsuoka, the 64-year-old driver of the taxi, at the scene. The
taxi slammed into Harasanshin Hospital in Fukuoka’s Hakata Ward shortly after 5 p.m.
and seven people were taken to hospitals.
The white-colored taxi, which did not carry a passenger, broke through a glass window
near the entrance of the hospital and went inside a lounge, hitting people there. Matsuoka
was quoted by the police as saying the brakes did not work.
The dead are Moriyuki Hanada and his wife Misayo, both 44, and Kazuyuki Endo, 53,
the police said, adding all three were residents of Hakata Ward.
The driver told the police he also tried to downshift to stop the vehicle. An eyewitness
told Kyodo News that the taxi accelerated shortly before it entered the premises of the
hospital.
The taxi reached the opposite wall of the lounge, according to the hospital.
The lounge floor was covered with glass fragments and parts of the crashed vehicle.
Another eyewitness told Kyodo that the taxi driver appeared to be in a state of confusion
after the accident.
Family members of the taxi driver told Kyodo he had no health problems and that he has
worked as a taxi driver for more than 30 years.
The hospital with 359 beds is located about 2 kilometers from JR Hakata Station.
Taxi rams into Fukuoka hospital; 3 dead, 7 injured
CRIME DEC. 04, 2016 - 06:30AM JS
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3 die after taxi crashes into hospital in Japan
JIJI -- DEC 04 (2016)
(with 1:20 min video segment in Japanese)
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Fukuoka cops: Elderly taxi
driver slams into hospital;
2 dead, several injured
By Roland Shichijo
on December 4, 2016
Cabbie told cops car ‘wouldn’t stop after
hitting the brakes’
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UPDATE1: Taxi rams into hospital,
2 dead, some injured
3 December 2016 19:25
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Taxi crashes into Fukuoka hospital,
leaving three dead, seven injured
KYODO
DEC 3, 2016
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(U.S. NHTSA complaints as of: 3 Dec 2016)
