Car ploughs into young children in Japan, killing two

Two toddlers are killed and several injured as a car ploughs into 13 nursery school children walking on a pavement in Japan

• A group of nursery children were run over as they walked with their teacher 
• The car ploughed into 13 young children killing two toddlers and injuring others 
• Police said car veered onto pavement after hitting with another larger vehicle 
• A girl and a boy, both aged two years old died in the accident in Otsu City, Japan

A car ploughed into a group of 13 kindergarten children in western Japan’s Shiga region on Wednesday, killing two toddlers and injuring others, police said.

Police said the car veered onto the pavement after making ‘contact’ with another larger vehicle that was turning at a junction in Otsu City.

The accident killed a girl and a boy, both two years old, and left four children in a critical condition, a police spokesman said.

‘The (smaller) car rammed into a group of 13 nursery school children and three teachers who were walking on the pavement,’ the police said in a statement.

A police spokesman said some of the rest of the group suffered injuries but could not give further details.

Police officers remove vehicles that ploughed into a group of nursery children, killing two and leaving at least four of them critically injured at a crossing in Otsu, Shiga

Police said the car veered onto the pavement after making ‘contact’ with another larger vehicle

The children and their teachers were on the pavement near a crossing when the small vehicle crashed into them. 

Japanese nursery schools regularly take children to the local park for playtime or out on short excursions during the day.

‘We’re very shocked and terribly saddened by this ghastly accident,’ the company operating the nursery said in a statement on their Facebook page.

‘We are truly sorry, thinking of the future of the children who passed away.’

Footage on local media in the aftermath of the accident showed one car had veered up off the road and onto the pavement. A second car that appeared to have been damaged in a crash could be seen still on the road.

Police said they had arrested the drivers of both cars – a 52-year-old woman and a 62-year-old woman.

Japanese nursery schools regularly take children to the local park for playtime or out on short excursions during the day

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