Around the World: Japan

Victim died waiting

A 69-year-old Japanese man injured in a traffic accident last month died after paramedics spent more than an hour negotiating with 14 hospitals before finding one to admit him, a fire department official said yesterday.

The man, whose bicycle collided with a motorcycle in western city of Itami, waited at the scene in an ambulance because the hospitals said they could not accept him, citing a lack of specialists, equipment, beds and staff, according to Mitsuhisa Ikemoto.