TOKYO: A traffic accident on an expressway near Tokyo left three people dead and two others injured Tuesday.

The accident involving four trucks and three passenger cars occurred around 7:35 a.m. on an outbound lane of the Ikebukuro line on the Metropolitan Expressway in the city of Toda, Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo.

According to Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department, a truck crashed into a line of vehicles formed in a traffic jam, and at least three passenger cars caught fire.

The MPD arrested Sakyo Furihata, the 28-year-old driver of the truck, on the spot on suspicion of negligent driving causing death. He told investigators that he was unconscious at the time of the collision.

The department is trying to confirm the identities of the dead people and investigating the cause of the accident.

Those who died were passenger car occupants, the police said, adding that the two injured people were in their respective trucks other than Furihata’s.

According to Metropolitan Expressway Co., which operates the expressway, a section between Tokyo’s Takashimadaira and Bijogi in Toda was closed due to the accident.

JIJI Press