Tokyo travel company and bus driver’s home searched by police after crash that killed 14

Police searched the office of a travel company and the home of a bus driver on Saturday after the crash of a chartered bus on a mountain road in Nagano Prefecture northwest of Tokyo that killed 14 people the previous day.

Tokyo-based Keyth Tour, which organised a ski tour for the bus passengers, was searched on suspicion of negligent driving resulting in death and injury in connection with the accident early on Friday.

“We apologise for having caused a serious accident,” Misaku Takahashi, president of the bus operator ESP told a press conference.

READ MORE: Japan ski bus crash: 14 dead, 27 hurt as Nagano tour veered off road

The company appears to have routinely violated regulations, such as inappropriately compiling documents on the operations of its buses, transport ministry officials said on Saturday.

Hiroshi Tsuchiya, from the western Tokyo city of Ome, was one of the two bus drivers killed in the crash. The 65-year-old was driving at the time.

Twelve university students were killed and 26 other passengers injured when the bus carrying 39 passengers to a ski resort veered off the road and rolled over in the resort town of Karuizawa.

Given that scratches were found on the left guardrail of the road about 100 metres before the accident site, the police are looking into the possibility that the bus, travelling on the left side of the road, lost control after touching the guardrail.