Families grieve, 73 dead in Japan train crash

AMAGASAKI, Japan, Tuesday (Reuters) Rescuers pulled three people alive from the wreckage of a Japanese commuter train early on Tuesday as weeping relatives arrived at a makeshift morgue to identify loved ones among at least 73 people killed in Japan's worst rail accident in four decades.

Investigations into the cause of Monday's accident were focusing on the speed the crowded train was travelling when it jumped the tracks in the suburbs of the western city of Osaka and smashed into an apartment building shortly after rush hour.

Orange-clad rescue workers appeared to be preparing to use large cranes and construction machinery to right the crushed and overturned front carriages. Police said it was not clear if anyone remained inside.

Television showed a man crouched and weeping outside the gymnasium where the bodies of the dead were taken.

"I thought he would be alive in a hospital somewhere," a woman who lost her son told public broadcaster NHK. "I only saw him last night and I never dreamed I would be parted from him today."

Meanwhile Japanese police looking for clues to the cause of Japan's worst rail crash in four decades searched the offices of the train's owner.

Police who raided the offices of West Japan Railway Co. (JR West) said they were investigating for possible professional negligence leading to death.