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AMAGASAKI, Japan - The death toll jumped to 71 Tuesday as crews pulled more victims from the wreckage of Japan's deadliest rail crash in decades. Investigators focused on whether excessive speed or the driver's inexperience caused the train to derail and slam into a building.

AP Photo

AFP

Slideshow: Train Derails in Japan, Dozens Dead

Train Derails in West Japan, Killing 50

(AP Video)

The seven-car commuter train carrying 580 passengers left the rails Monday morning near Amagasaki, a suburb of Osaka about 250 miles west of Tokyo. It hit an automobile and then a nine-story apartment complex. More than 440 people were injured.

Rescuers working under floodlights pulled out a conscious but seriously injured 46-year-old woman then reached a 19-year-old man passenger, also in serious condition.

But most of the work was grim as crews pulled 14 more bodies from the twisted rail carriages, pushing the death toll from 57 to 71.

Two of the five derailed cars were shoved inside and flattened against the wall of the building's first-floor parking garage.

Distraught relatives rushed to hospitals looking for loved ones who might have been injured or killed in the 5:18 a.m. crash. They struggled to comprehend their loss.

"I only saw him the night before," said Hiroko Kuki, whose son died in the crash. "I wish he were alive somewhere... I wish it were only a nightmare."

Takamichi Hayashi said his elder brother, 19-year-old Hiroki, might be among those still in the wreck. He said Hiroki had called their mother twice on a mobile phone from inside one of the train cars hours after the crash but remained unaccounted for.

"He told my mother: 'I'm in pain. I'm not going to make it,'" Hayashi said.

Officials said no cause had been ruled out but added that investigators