A Vietnamese woman died in a fatal road accident in Japan that has been linked to the popular mobile game Pokemon Go, the Japan Times reported on Friday.
Officials said the woman was riding a bicycle when she was hit by a car. The police arrested the driver, who is in his 20s, for causing injury due to negligence. The drive will have to face possible charges of causing death due to negligence.
The driver said he looked away as he was trying to charge his mobile phone. The battery was depleted from playing Pokemon Go.
This is the second incident of death in Japan that has been related to the wildly popular augmented reality game.
On August 25, a woman was killed and another was severely injured by a Japanese truck driver, who was playing Pokemon Go while driving.
The driver initially told the police that he was checking the time on his smartphone but later he admitted that he was playing Pokémon Go.
"I did not have clear sight of the road because I was playing Pokemon Go," the 39-year-old driver told the National Police Agency.
The police said there have been 79 traffic accidents across Japan since the app was launched last month. More than 1,000 traffic infractions involving Pokemon Go players have been recorded so far.
Pokémon Go is a conventional "hide and seek" game where the players have to find virtual characters based on their real-world locations detected through their smartphones.
The authorities worldwide have issued numerous warnings, urging players to be vigilant. They have warned players from walking into oncoming traffic, straying into restricted areas, or becoming victims of crimes.
