An excavator rammed into pupils and teachers of a school for children with impaired hearing in Osaka on Thursday, killing an 11-year-old girl and injuring four others, police and rescuers said.

The police arrested Takuya Sano, the 35-year-old driver of the excavator, at the scene where the girl, Ayaka Ide, and two other pupils of the same age were heading home with two female teachers in their 40s at around 4 p.m.

The two girls and the teachers of the public school in Osaka's Ikuno Ward were injured.

According to the police, the five were waiting for a traffic signal near the school's gate when the accident occurred.

The police quoted Sano as saying he mistakenly pressed the gas pedal instead of the brake pedal when he was trying to stop the vehicle as the traffic light turned red.