April 26 (Bloomberg) -- The death toll from yesterday's train crash in western Japan rose to 73 as police started an investigation into the country's worst rail accident in four decades, the government's disaster agency said today.
The packed West Japan Railway Co. commuter train derailed in the city of Amagasaki, a suburb of Osaka, about 300 miles southwest of Tokyo, and slammed into a nine-story condominium at 9:18 a.m. At least 442 people were injured, the agency said.
``Local fire fighters are still rescuing passengers trapped in the train,'' Norio Tamari, an official at the Amagasaki fire department said in a telephone interview today.
The focus of the transport ministry's investigation will be the speed of the seven-car Hitachi Ltd.-built train. JR West President Takeshi Kakiuchi and two other top executives may resign to take responsibility, the Nihon Kaizei reported on its English language newswire without citing anyone.
The train may have been ``running at a high speed,'' Kazuo Kitagawa, minister of land, infrastructure and transport, said at a news conference last night. ``It is very important to investigate how fast the train was running at the time of the derailment.''
The derailment of the train, which carried about 580 passengers, occurred near a railroad crossing, JR West said. The speed at the crossing is restricted to 70-kilometers an hour. JR West estimates the train would have to be traveling at more than 133 kilometers per hour for it to be derailed.
Leaving Tracks
The train was traveling from Takarazuka city in Hyogo prefecture to Tanabe in Kyoto prefecture when five railcars flew off the tracks in Amagasaki and smashed into an apartment building during the rush hour.
Train passengers interviewed by NHK Television yesterday said the train was delayed after overshooting the platform when it pulled into an earlier station.
One passenger who wasn't identified was cited as saying the train was traveling fast, possibly to make up for the lost time and didn't slow down to take turns.
A uniformed man believed to be Ryujiro Takami, 23, was found in the driver's seat, Kyodo News said today, citing police who didn't confirm whether he was dead or alive.
Takami, who has 11-months experience, overshot a railway station stop in June last year, Kyodo News reported yesterday.
Shares of JR West dropped 1.2 percent in Tokyo today after declining 3.6 percent yesterday.
JR West Chairman Shojiro Nanya and Masataka Ide, a former chairman and advisory director may resign, the Nikkei said.
``At this point the focus is on rescue efforts,'' said JR West spokeswomen Tomomi Nakamura, declining to comment further.
The number of dead was the most since 163 people died and 120 were injured in a 1963 crash in Yokohama near Tokyo, according to data from the disaster agency.
