Local News

On Apr. 11, two rental tour buses carrying Korean tourist groups collided on a prefectural road in Kurokawa, Kumamoto. No one was seriously injured, but 26 of the 83 passengers were treated for bruises and other minor injuries. The police are investigating the two bus drivers on suspicion of negligent driving. One bus was operated by Kokonoe Kanko Service (Kokonoe Town, Oita), while the other was operated by Plus Kanko (Fukuchi Town, Fukuoka). The former was carrying high school students on a class trip, while the latter was carrying regular tourists. The scene of the accident was a 100-meter stretch of road that only had one open lane because the other lane was damaged in last summer’s torrential rain storms. A light rain was falling at the time of the collision. The driver of the Kokonoe Kanko bus admitted he was driving “absent-mindedly”. A traffic control worker at the site said he tried to stop the bus, but it ignored his sign. The Plus Kanko bus driver said he proceeded according to the traffic control worker’s instructions and hit the brakes when he saw the oncoming bus but was unable to stop in time. The passengers were taken to a local hospital, but since there was no Korean interpreter available, hospital staff used an online interpreting service to treat them. Source: Nishinippon Shimbun, Apr. 12