June 20, 2013

Snow kills 8 in Japan, including family in car

BY: AP Staff Writer MARCH 3, 2013 | MODIFIED: MARCH 4, 2013 AT 12:30 AM
Leave a comment
Photo -   In this photo taken Sunday, March 3, 2013, a policeman inspects the site where a vehicle, center, of Kazuyo Miyashita got buried in the snow along a road in Nakashibetsu, Hokkaido, northern Japan. Kyodo news service says Miyashita and her three children died at a hospital Saturday night of carbon-monoxide poisoning. Heavy snow that fell on the main northern Japanese island of Hokkaido over the weekend has killed eight people, including the family. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, HONG KONG, JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA AND FRANCE
In this photo taken Sunday, March 3, 2013, a policeman inspects the site where a vehicle, center, of Kazuyo Miyashita got buried in the snow along a road in Nakashibetsu, Hokkaido, northern Japan. Kyodo news service says Miyashita and her three children died at a hospital Saturday night of carbon-monoxide poisoning. Heavy snow that fell on the main northern Japanese island of Hokkaido over the weekend has killed eight people, including the family. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, HONG KONG, JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA AND FRANCE

TOKYO (AP) — Heavy snow that fell in northern Japan over the weekend killed eight people on Hokkaido island, including a family whose car became buried.

Kazuyo Miyashita, 40, her two daughters Misa, 17, and Sayo, 14, and her son Daiki, 11, died at a hospital Saturday night of carbon-monoxide poisoning after their vehicle got buried in the snow, according to Kyodo news service.

Separately, Haruna Kitagawa, 23, froze to death after leaving her car, stuck in the snow. A 53-year-old man died Sunday after getting buried in the snow, although his 9-year-old daughter found with him was recovering, Kyodo said.

Also over the weekend, a 54-year-old man and a 76-year-old man were found collapsed in the snow in another part of Hokkaido, and both were confirmed dead, it said.

The storm caused two-meter-high (six-and-a-half-feet) drifts and was blamed for derailing a bullet train in Akita prefecture, south of Hokkaido, on Saturday afternoon.

Kyodo said the passenger train was moving slowly because of the heavy snow on the tracks, and the derailment caused no injuries.

View article comments Leave a comment

More from washingtonexaminer.com

From the Weekly Standard

  • June 17, 1953

    Today, speaking at the Brandenburg Gate, President Obama paid appropriate tribute to the brave East Germans who rebelled 60 years ago against Communist dictatorship:

    Read More...
  • Problems of the Second Generation

    The Boston Marathon bombings highlighted, once again, the challenges of assimilating Muslim youth. And while the onus of accountability ought not rest exclusively on Muslim Americans, it...

    Read More...
  • Release Osama Bin Laden’s Files on Taliban

    The Obama administration announced on Tuesday that it was moving forward with its attempt to negotiate with the Taliban, which has opened a long-awaited political office in Doha, Qatar. The...

    Read More...