Japan train hits truck, mounts platform

An express passenger train hit a truck at a level crossing in Japan on Tuesday, police said, with footage and reports from the scene showing it had mounted a station platform.

A picture published online by the bestselling Yomiuri Shimbun showed a carriage half-on a platform in Hyogo prefecture. A spokesman for the local police confirmed the accident and said the injury toll of 16 may rise.

"A train and a trailer collided at a crossing near Arai station on the Sanyo line in Takasago city at around 3:50 pm (06:50 GMT)," a spokesman said.

"Sixteen people including the drivers of the truck and the train were injured. There is a possibility that the number of injured will increase."

"The train's driver was seriously injured but is not in a life-threatening situation," a spokesman for the railway company said.

There were about 70 passengers on the train, one report said.

The Yomiuri said the driver of the train was badly injured in the accident in which the first and second carriages of the six-car train jumped the tracks, moving around 200 meters (yards) before coming to a halt at the end of a station platform.

The accident occurred some 800 meters from the municipal office.

"According to people in the neighborhood, the trailer stalled at the crossing and the express train crashed into it," the paper said.

Fellow daily the Asahi Shimbun said the trailer had been at the back of a queue of vehicles that had stopped for a red light.

The paper said there are a number of houses near the level crossing, one of which had its second floor balcony damaged.

"The train moved on with tilted cars, knocking down utility poles, concrete walls and other things along the way before it crashed into a platform at the station and stopped," the Mainichi Shimbun said.