2 children killed as car rams into group of nursery school children in Saitama

SAITAMA — Two girls aged 3 and 4 were killed Monday when a car rammed into a group of kindergartners on their way to a park in Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture, police said. Thirty-three children and five members of staff of the Kobato nursery school were walking in a line along the side of the street when the car crashed into them at around 10 a.m.

More than a dozen of them were injured, and two are in critical condition, police said. Hideyuki Izawa, the 37-year-old driver, was arrested for professional negligence. According to a witness, Izawa was driving at high speed and one of the children was knocked several meters by the vehicle."