Five members of a family from Hokkaido were killed and another seriously injured in a head-on collision early Saturday between a station wagon and a trailer truck in the village of Kajikawa, Niigata Prefecture, police said.
The accident involving the station wagon, which was being driven by Takahiko Moroi, 41, occurred at 4:20 a.m. Moroi's wife, Masako, 41, their sons -- Koichi, 13, and Makoto, 7, -- and their daughters -- Ayumi, 11, and Hikaru, 4, died in the accident, the police said.
Moroi sustained a leg fracture and other serious injuries.
The truck driver, Mitsuru Toguchi, 39, from Osaka, was unhurt. The police said they suspect Moroi had dozed off because his vehicle had crossed over the center line on Route 7 into the opposite lane, colliding with the oncoming truck.
The Moroi family left Hakodate in Hokkaido at around 2 p.m. Friday on a holiday trip to Tenri, Nara Prefecture, according to the police.