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 p.m. after vehicles likely skidded on the icy surface as snow fell, according to the police. At least 17 vehicles caught fire.
A woman thought to be in her 70s 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.
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."
by SkyInJapan
7 comments
God damn foreigners causing pile-ups now!
Do they usually denote places two or three prefectures away as ____ of Tokyo? Wouldn’t this more approximately be south of Niigata?
Maybe it’s a relevance thing? More readers in Tokyo than anywhere else.
> At least 17 vehicles caught fire.
Out of curiosity: how does that happen?
One of the fears I have when I drive during the winter. Even though my routes usually avoid expressways and such, a pileup is still a non-zero percent on any busy stretch of road.
Drivers should be extra careful around the Minakami area as there is a lot of snowfall here and even with snow tires it won’t give you much grip on ice.
Better to avoid night driving during the winter months too as you never know when a snowstorm can strike these parts.
More on this subject from other reputable sources:
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– Straits Times (B): [1 dead, 26 injured in 50-vehicle expressway pile-up north-west of Tokyo](https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/1-dead-26-injured-in-50-vehicle-expressway-pile-up-north-west-of-tokyo)
– japannews.yomiuri.co.jp (B): [UPDATE 4: Massive Pileup in Gunma Pref. Kills 1, Injures 26; Slippery Conditions Believed to Be Cause of Accident](https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20251227-300822/)
– financialexpress.com (C-): [Watch: Massive fire erupts on Japan’s expressway after over 50 vehicles collide – 1 dead, 26 injured](https://www.financialexpress.com/world-news/watch-massive-fire-erupts-on-japans-expressway-after-over-50-vehicles-collide-1-dead-26-injured/4089794/)
– Japan Today (B): [2 dead, 26 injured in 50-vehicle expressway pileup in Gunma](https://japantoday.com/category/national/update1-1-dead-26-injured-in-50-vehicle-expressway-pileup-northwest-of-tokyo)
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Japan Today says 2 dead. It took more than seven hours to put out the blaze!
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