Two dead, 26 injured in 50-vehicle pileup on expressway northwest of Tokyo
A massive accident involving more than 50 vehicles on the Kan-etsu Expressway in Gunma Prefecture left two people dead and 26 injured, including five seriously, police said Saturday, Qazinform News Agency cites Kyodo.
The pileup occurred around 7:30 p.m. Friday in Minakami when cars and trucks skidded on icy roads as snow fell. The chain collision stretched over 300 meters after a truck slammed into another that had stopped following a single-vehicle crash.
At least 10 vehicles caught fire, with firefighters taking more than seven hours to extinguish the blazes.
Victims included a 77-year-old woman from Tokyo, who was riding in the back seat of a family car, and the driver of a large truck. Twenty-one others sustained minor injuries.
Authorities closed a section of the expressway, where rows of wrecked and charred vehicles blocked traffic. Drivers had been instructed to slow to 50 km/h due to snow at the time.
One truck driver in his 60s described swerving into the median to avoid a car ahead, then hearing multiple explosions behind him.
“The ice made it difficult for me to control the steering wheel. I feared for my life,” he said.
Earlier it was reported, several injured in massive 19 car pile-up in Karaganda region.
