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3 dead, 20 injured after tour bus in Japan careens off road

Xinhua, January 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

Three people died following a tour bus carrying 41 people careening off a road in the town of Karuizawa in Nagano Prefecture, central Japan, early Friday morning.

The tour bus, according to local media reports, was carrying 41 people when the accident occured and was headed to a ski resort.

Local authorities said that among the 20 or so injured, 11 were in a critical condition.

The accident occured in the early hours of Friday morning at around 2 a.m. on National Route 18, which runs not far from Karuizawa station.

Police and investigators so far have confirmed that the road conditions were not icy and investigations into the cause of the accident are ongoing.

The tour bus originated from Gunma Prefecture, with the full bus load of passengers, according to preliminary local reports, veering onto the opposite lane of the road, hitting the guard rail and flipping over, totaling the front end of the bus.

The emergency call to rescue services was made by one of the passengers, according to local media reports. Enditem