GINOWAN, Okinawa — Three Marines and a Japanese woman were struck by a car driven by a Japanese man from Gushikawa on Thursday night on Highway 58.
The four were walking across the six-lane road at about 10:45 p.m. in the Oyama district of Ginowan, near Futenma Marine Corps Air Station, when a car driven by Naohisa Matayoshi, 32, ran into them, said a duty officer of the Okinawa prefectural police in Ginowan.
According to the accident report, Matayoshi was heading north at about 60 kph in the inner lane when he hit the four pedestrians, who had just stepped from the median strip.
The Marines, a corporal, a private first class and private, all 21 years old and assigned to the 1st Stinger Battery at Futenma, were taken to the U.S. Naval Hospital on Camp Lester, said Marine spokesman 2nd Lt. Eric Tausch. Their identities were not released.
According to Okinawa police, the private sustained massive body injuries, while the corporal had a fractured left leg and the private first class sustained bruises on his head. The 26-year-old Japanese woman was treated at a local hospital for lacerations.
The cause of the accident remains under investigation, the police spokesman said, adding that no odor of alcohol was detected on the driver.
