Saga Prefectural Police have launched an investigation following the discovery on Sunday of a male government official with burns near a burned-out vehicle with a corpse inside, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun

At 12:10 a.m., emergency services received a report about a car on fire along the shoulder of National Route 263 in the village of Mitsuse in Saga City. Officers from the Saga Kita Police Station arriving at the scene found a charred corpse in the passenger seat. The gender and approximate age of the person are not known.

A man with burns to his legs from the knees down was found outside the vehicle nearby. He was transported to a hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening.

The man told police that he is a government employee at the Kyushu Regional Bureau of the National Personnel Authority and that he was driving the car.

An autopsy was scheduled for Monday to determine the cause of death. Police plan to ask the man about the identity of the corpse and the cause of the fire.

Source: ANNnewsCH