One Dead, 26 Injured In 50-vehicle Expressway Pileup Northwest Of Tokyo

TOKYO, Dec 27 (Bernama-Kyodo) -- A massive pileup involving over 50 vehicles on Friday left one person dead and 26 others injured, five of them seriously, on an expressway in Gunma Prefecture northwest of Tokyo, police said.

The pileup occurred on the outbound lane of the Kan-etsu Expressway in Minakami at around 7:30 pm after vehicles likely skidded on the icy surface as snow fell, according to the police, Kyodo News Agency reported.

At least 10 vehicles caught fire, taking more than seven hours to extinguish.

The accident started as a truck crashed into another truck that was stopped on the road after a single-vehicle accident, leading to a chain of collisions over about 300 metres.

A 77-year-old woman from Tokyo, who was in the rear seat of a car, died, while 21 people suffered minor injuries. A section of the expressway was subsequently closed, with a row of badly damaged vehicles, some charred beyond recognition, clogging the outbound lane.

At that time, drivers had been instructed to slow to 50 kilometres per hour due to snow.

A driver in his 60s said his truck hit the median after swerving to avoid a car ahead of him. He also heard the sound of explosions four times behind him.

"The ice made it difficult for me to control the steering wheel," he said. "I feared for my life."

-- BERNAMA-KYODO