An 81-year-old man died in central Japan on Saturday after being struck by a falling stone lantern which was dislodged by a passing bus, police said.
The 100-kilogram roof-shaped stone fell on Masanobu Nishizawa from a height of approximately 2.5 meters, crushing him. He was later pronounced dead at a local hospital, the police said.
The accident took place around 9:55 a.m. when the left rear-vision mirror of the bus hit the stone lantern that stood on a roadside in Ise, Mie Prefecture. The 45-year-old driver was attempting to pull up at a bus stop at the time of the impact.
The driver was quoted by police as saying he knew the stone lantern was there but that he failed to notice it before the mirror hit. None of the 10 passengers aboard the bus were hurt.
