Maebashi, Gunma Pref. –
A pileup involving 67 vehicles on the Kan-Etsu Expressway in Gunma Prefecture has left two people dead and 26 injured.
The accident occurred at around 7:30 p.m. Friday near the expressway’s Minakami Interchange in the town of Minakami, Gunma Prefecture. The prefecture’s expressway traffic police unit suspects that vehicles skidded as the road surface was frozen.
The outbound direction, which had been closed between the expressway’s Minakami Interchange and Tsukiyono Interchange in the town of Minakami since Friday due to the accident, reopened at 1 p.m. Sunday, according to East Nippon Expressway, or Nexco East. All restrictions put in place after the incident have now been lifted.
Of the two who died, one was identified as Miyuki Wakita, 77, from Chofu, western Tokyo, who was in the back seat of a car driven by a member of her family, the unit said. The other was found in the driver’s seat of a truck on Saturday morning.
The accident is believed to have been triggered when a large truck collided with a midsize truck that had stopped sideways on the two-lane road. This collision caused a fire to start in one of the vehicles, officials said, spreading to a total of 20 vehicles. The entire accident scene was about 300 meters long.
The area around the scene is on a slight left curve.
Five people sustained serious injuries, while 21 others were slightly injured.
At the time of the crash, the speed limit was set at 50 kph due to snow.