A glider crashed into a house in Sakae, Chiba Prefecture, on Thursday, killing the two men aboard.
The accident occurred around 12:20 p.m. The two men were confirmed dead after being taken to hospital in a state of cardiac arrest.
No one in the house was injured.
Chiba Prefectural Police identified one of the two victims as Shuji Fujioka, 69, a glider instructor from the city of Kamagaya, Chiba Prefecture, who was in the rear seat of the two-seater glider.
Police are working to identify the other man, who is believed to also have been in his 60s.
The glider carrying the two men took off from Otone Airport, about 1.8 km north of the accident site in the town of Kawachi in neighboring Ibaraki Prefecture, at around 12:05 p.m., according to police and the transport ministry.
After being disconnected from its tow plane at an altitude of 900 meters, the glider crashed into the roof and wall of the two-story house. Part of the glider hit a neighboring house.
The glider was scheduled to return to the airport after the flight. It had made another flight Thursday morning.
The Japan Transport Safety Board sent three investigators to the accident site, which is near Ajiki Station on East Japan Railway Co.’s Narita Line.
Source: Jiji Press Video and image: ANN
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