BY AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Four people were unconscious in Japan on Thursday after being hit by a train, authorities said, with one media report saying they were “without vital signs”.

The incident involving four workers took place at Shin-Kanuma Station north of Tokyo, the fire department said.

“When emergency services arrived, three workers were still trapped under the train, while one was on the platform,” a fire department spokesman told AFP.

“Before being taken to hospital, all four of them were unconscious,” he added.

Emergency services were first called at 10:47 am (0147 GMT).

Nippon TV reported that the workers were removing weeds from around the train track and that all were “without vital signs”.

Japanese railways have one of the best safety records in the world, with fatal accidents extremely rare due to high levels of maintenance and training, and use of advanced technology.

Famously there has never been a passenger fatality from a derailment or a collision on Japan’s network of “shinkansen” bullet trains.