Snow had been falling on Gunma Prefecture since morning. By about 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 26, a police emergency line took a call about two trucks that had hit each other on the outbound lanes of the Kan-etsu Expressway, near the Minakami Interchange.
What followed spread down the road within minutes. The Asahi Shimbun reported that more than 50 vehicles ended up in the pileup, and over 10 of them caught fire. At least two people died and 26 were hurt, five of them seriously. The other 21 had minor injuries.
How the chain started
The prefectural police highway patrol said the two trucks skidded on the slippery surface and collided. Cars and trucks coming up behind either rammed into the wreck or swerved to miss it and hit the guardrail or the median strip. The road has two lanes in each direction at that spot, and a 50 kph speed limit was in force because of the snow.
The crash came just as people were setting out on New Year holiday trips. Traffic was heavy, and Bhaskar English, an Indian outlet, noted that heavy snow warnings had gone out late in the day yet many drivers were on the road anyway. That outlet also put the number of vehicles at more than 60 and described low visibility as a factor, while the Asahi account stuck to the icy road and the two-truck collision.
The dead
Police identified one victim as Miyuki Wakita, 77, of Chofu in western Tokyo. A second body, not identified at the time, was found at around 9 a.m. on Dec. 27 in the driver’s seat of a large truck caught up in the crash.
Fire made the scene harder to work. Bhaskar English reported that flames gutted more than a dozen vehicles and that firefighters needed roughly seven hours to bring the blaze fully under control. Photos of burning cars and wreckage spread quickly online.
Road still shut
As of 7 a.m. on Dec. 27, both directions between the Yuzawa and Tsukiyono interchanges stayed closed. East Nippon Expressway Co. said it did not yet know when the closure would end. In its words, “it is expected to take a considerable amount of time.”
Debris removal and road cleaning continued while police investigated. Drivers were told to take care on the icy surface.
Sources
- Two people killed, 26 injured in 50-vehicle pileup in Gunma | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis
- Highway crash in Japan leaves 2 dead, 26 injured: Several cars gutted as over 60 vehicles pile up due to low visibility; fire & chaos photos go viral
