Japanese truck driver playing Pokemon Go kills pedestrian

A man uses a mobile phone in front of an advertisement board bearing the image of Pokemon Go at an electronic shop in Tokyo, Japan, July 27, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo

Thomson Reuters

TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese truck driver playing Pokemon Go while driving hit two pedestrians, killing one and injuring the other, state broadcaster NHK said, in Japan's first death related to the Nintendo Co craze.

Police in the western city of Tokushima arrested the driver after the accident on Wednesday evening on suspicion of negligent driving, NHK said.

A spokesman for Niantic, which developed Pokemon GO jointly with Nintendo affiliate Pokemon Company, said the company was aware of the accident.

He said that earlier this month it had added a pop-up to the Pokemon Go screen when it detected an increase in speed asking for confirmation the user was not driving.

He didn't say whether the developer would take further steps to guard against accidents.

The popularity of augmented-reality Pokemon Go around the world has generated crowds of people in parks and other public places as user search for monsters, but has also been blamed for injuries and robberies of distracted users.

Signs at parks and other places in Japan have asked users to avoid creating a nuisance.

(Reporting by Tim Kelly; Editing by Nick Macfie)

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