Car carnage

A DISGRUNTLED worker slammed his car into employees at a Mazda factory in south-west Japan yesterday, killing one and injuring 10.

Toshiaki Hikiji, 42, was arrested about an hour later on attempted murder charges after fleeing in his car from Mazda’s Ujina plant in Hiroshima.

Media reports said Hikiji was a contract worker who had been let go in April. He bore a grudge against the car maker and went there with a knife with the intention to kill, they said.

But Mazda spokesman Kotaro Minagawa said he had quit in April on his own, citing personal reasons, after working just eight days, with no reports of problems.

Two years ago, another angry car worker killed seven people in Tokyo when he slammed a truck into a crowd and then stabbed onlookers.