A car ran into pedestrians in downtown Miyazaki on Wednesday afternoon, killing two women and injuring five other people, including the driver, police said.
The accident in Miyazaki Prefecture occurred around 2:50 p.m. when Mitsugi Kawauchi, 73, from neighboring Kagoshima Prefecture apparently lost control of the minivehicle he was driving and struck several pedestrians on a sidewalk, according to the police.
The dead women were identified as Midori Fujimoto, 66, and Kikue Takagi, 50, both living in the city, the police said, adding the four other injured people were aged between 17 and 68. The driver was also hospitalized after sustaining severe injuries and suffering a brain hemorrhage.
After running along the sidewalk for about 700 meters, the car eventually overturned and came to a stop at an intersection west of JR Miyazaki Station. No one else was in the vehicle.