The truck's driver, 26-year-old Masato Shibata, was arrested at the scene.
According to eyewitnesses, Shibata's crane truck crossed the centerline, ran over a single barrier pole and then ran into a group of 20 to30 children on their way to Kitaoshihara Sho Gakko (KitaoshiharaElementary School), killing five boys and a girl.
The accident occurred 170 metres (558 feet) from the school. One of the eyewitnesses was the school's principal, Kurasawa Toshio (surname first), who said: "The truck ran into the row of children at the speed it would normally run on roads."
Witnesses say Shibata was hunched over the steering wheel as if he washugging it when his vehicle hit the children and then traveled severalmetres (10 feet) more before smashing into a house before stopping at anearby vacant lot.
Shibata later admitted he wasdozing off when his truck rammed into them, though the police are trying to confirm his confession and are searching his home andworkplace given that the accident occurred only 10 minutesafter he started out from his workplace.
Police have learned that Shibata was driving the truck at about 40 kilometersper hour and did not slow down before the accident, the sources said.
The children were walking along a designated pedestrian walkway onNational Highway Route 293 when the they were struck at around 7:45AM.The two lane-road is nine metres (29.5 feet) wide and does not aseparating guard rail between it and the walking lane.
The six children were identified as Mika Sekiguchi, 9, Keita Shimozuma,9, Taiga Ihara, 9, Kyoya Hoshino, 10, Takuma Omori, 11, and ManatoKumano, 11.
The Kanuma Board Of Education is providing counseling to treat the children who witnessed the accident.
By the way... a blog on my life will not appear as the next blog entry - instead a special one will appear on the tsunami aftermath. It will be short - but hopefully one you will find very interesting. I'll be back to two a day (plus) after this short disruption of my schedule.
