Deadly tornado hits northeastern Japan

• Tweet

MITO, Japan, May 6 (UPI) -- An apparent tornado tore through central eastern Japan Sunday, killing a teenager and injuring 40 others, emergency officials reported.

Amid very active thunderstorms, the twister struck Ibaraki and Tochigi prefectures, some 35 miles northeast of Tokyo around 1 p.m., the Kyodo news agency reported.

Police said as many as 250 houses lost roofs and windows to the funnel cloud, which has not yet been officially recognized as a tornado by meteorological officials.

At least 40 people were injured, two of them seriously. One of them, a 14-year-old boy, died of his injuries in a hospital, the report said.

The thunderstorms also caused widespread reports of lightning damage and disruptions and delays in bullet train service along the east coast, Kyodo said.