Oyashirazu railway accident
The railway accident Oyashirazu ( Jap. 北陸線列車雪崩直撃事故 , Hokuriku-sen ressha nadare chokugeki jiko , dt. "Avalanche of Hokuriku Line ") on February 3, 1922 was an avalanche disaster near Itoigawa in Niigata Prefecture , Japan , in of 90 people were killed and another 42 injured.
Starting position
On October 15, 1912, the Hokuriku main line of the Japanese State Railways was extended with the commissioning of the new section from Tomari Station ( Toyama Prefecture ) to Ōmi Station . The railway line leading through Oyashirazu and Koshirazu was built on a single track and equipped with a track block. On the approximately 23 km long section, the train goes through several tunnels , which are necessary due to the topography , as the route runs along the Japanese Northern Alps ( Hida Mountains ) and this slopes abruptly with the steep coast to the Japanese Sea .
On January 27, 1922, about 3 meters of snow had fallen in the neighboring city of Yamatogawa, and about 2.7 meters in Ōmi and Oyashirazu . A day later, a train got stuck on the track in a snowdrift . The locomotive got stuck in the snow without causing personal injury or property damage.
On the day of the accident, February 3, 1922, the weather had turned into rainy weather after days of snowfall . The rain caused a slab of snow to come off the steep slope around 1:30 p.m. and block the Hokuriku Line between Ichiburi and Oyashirazu stations. Avalanches of this kind were not uncommon for mountain regions, but they were for the seashore. Since it was a main line that was also of great military importance, the Ministry of Railways - at that time also the Directorate General of the Railway - and the Ministry of the Army requested workers to clear the line. These were recruited from local youth organizations and reservists in nearby towns. They were concentrated in Itoigawa ( 糸 魚 川 町 , Itoigawa-machi ).
The emergency services were taken to action with the additional emergency train. This consisted of the steam locomotive 2296 (JNR series 2260) and six bogie wagons , a carriage of the type 8777 (hohayuni), a type 7142 (hoha) and four ordinary cars the third class : Type 3432, 1772, 1735 and 4518. The The makeshift train was manned by around 200 people, 150 of whom were to be used to clear snow. The equipment of that time was sparse for the arduous clearing work and offered insufficient protection from the cold: The workers were equipped with minokasa ( 蓑笠 , rain cape and hat made of straw ), the shoes were not waterproof. When it got dark, the clearance work was interrupted and the hired laborers boarded makeshift train No. 65, which was supposed to take them back to Itoigawa.
the accident
The train approached its destination station 20 minutes late at 7:50 p.m. in heavy rain. When he left the Fukaya tunnel to enter the following Katsuyama tunnel (height over TP 328 m), another avalanche broke off and hit three full-width passenger cars . The impact of the avalanche pushed the locomotive and the first car into the tunnel , badly damaged the second car and completely destroyed the wooden superstructures of the third and fourth cars. The fifth car hit the fourth passenger car and the cars wedged, the last car was slightly damaged. An estimated 6000 cubic meters of snow hit the train.
consequences
90 people, including a railway official, died (88 at the scene of the accident and 2 as a result of the injuries sustained), and a further 42 people were injured.
Three survivors made the way back to Itoigawa and delivered the news of the accident. The local fire brigade then went out to help the victims with an ambulance. The doctor Toshio Andō was among the rescuers. The rescue train returned to Itoigawa the following morning with dead and injured. The dead were laid out in the temples of Zendō and Shogaku in the surrounding villages. The rescue team was then divided into two groups, one group that looked after the injured and dead who were brought back and one group that returned to the scene of the accident for rescue operations. The rescue work on the buried west exit of the Katsuyama Tunnel continued into the night with carbide lamps and lanterns. It is reported that in the course of the rescue work one rescuer suddenly developed a nosebleed, collapsed and died shortly afterwards. Another helper who hurried to the collapsed discovered next to him a hand sticking out of the snow. So the death of a savior is said to have saved the life of an injured man.
About 40 families lived in the Rendai-tera district of Itoigawa at the time. 16 young people belonged to the youth organization of this district, 15 of whom were passengers in the disaster train. Of these 15 young people, 13 died in the accident.
Nothing is known about the origin of the only regular passenger who died. He was cremated after being laid out in the temple. The Ministry of Railways sent helpers in 1592, to which almost the same number of helpers from the surrounding villages was added. However, the main task of the auxiliary staff provided by the Ministry of Railways was to restore the operability of the line. It was cleared and navigable again on February 5, 1922.
| city | Itoigawa | Nō | Yamatogawa | Isobe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of victims (persons) | 24 | 17th | 24 | 24 |
| Age range | 10-20 years old | 20-30 years old | 30–40 years old | 40 year olds | 50 year olds | 60 year olds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of victims (persons) | 13 | 34 | 19th | 21st | 1 | 1 |
To date, this was the most serious railway accident in Japan to be triggered by an avalanche, and one of the worst railway accidents in Japan at all.
After the accident there was a dispute between the city of Itoigawa and the Ministry of Railways over compensation, the so-called consolation money ( 弔 慰 金 , chōikin ). The ministry initially took the position that they were self-employed workers who were not in an employment relationship with the state railway, which is why the railway was not responsible for compensation payments. Shortly after the funeral services for the deceased, however, the Ministry of Railways offered a total of 200 yen in compensation. At that time, the daily wage for a temporary worker was about 1 yen per working day. Usually the consolation allowance for a salaried worker was 200 days wages, that of an unskilled worker 100 days wages. The representative of the victims' families rejected this first offer. Negotiations with a senior railway authority official who had traveled from Nagoya, in which Nakamura demanded 2,500 yen, failed. As a result, during a session of the Japanese Reichstag , Nakamura asked Railway Minister Hajime Motoda directly for talks. On the mediation of Masahiro Ōda , the governor of Niigatas, it was finally agreed on the payment of 2,200 yen.
epilogue
The first to erect a memorial stone was the doctor Toshio Andō ( 安藤 俊 夫 , Andō Toshio ), who also looked after the injured during the rescue work and was responsible for the investigation . He set up a memorial stone at the height of the accident site on National Road 8 with the inscription: Accident site of a large snow avalanche accident on February 3, Taishō 11 . The memorial stone was removed when the road was repaired in 1963; its whereabouts could not be determined. Until his death in 1968, Toshio wanted to restore the monument . Ando's son accepted this request, so that on May 4, 1974 a second monument was inaugurated. The names of Toshio Andō, his wife and son are engraved on the back of the monument.
Remarks
- ↑ Japanese rail vehicles usually have an identification number that shows the wagon load, the purpose, the wagon type, the type of bogie and the series. The abbreviations given here indicate the intended use. Hohayuni is a carriage that was intended for the transport of mail , luggage , goods and people , and hoha refers to a carriage for transporting people and luggage. The abbreviation for the four passenger cars is hafu , which means they are third-class passenger cars with a brake car ( fu ) at the end of the train , which also contained the conductors' compartment.
- ↑ The Yomiuri Shimbun ( Memento of the original from December 4, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. puts the death toll at 85.
- ↑ Original: 「大 正 十 一年 二月 三 日 大 雪崩 遭難 現場」
Individual evidence
- ↑ The photograph is based on: National Land Image Information (Color Aerial Photographs) ( Memento of the original from March 27, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
Web links
- 大 雪崩 で 列車 埋没 し 即 死者 百余 名 を 出 す . In:大阪 朝日 新聞 ( Asahi Shimbun Osaka) in the online newspaper archive (新聞 記事 文庫 ). 神 戸 大学 附属 図 書館(Library of theUniversity of Kobe), March 2010,accessed on December 3, 2012(Japanese, article from February 5, 1922).
- 天下 の 険 親 不知 ・ 子 不知 . Itoigawa City,accessed December 3, 2012(Japanese, with images of the coastal strip and the scene of the accident).
- 山田 征 男 : 2012 年 2 月 の 周年 災害 ／ 日本 の 災害 ・ 防災 年表 (「周年 災害」 リ ン ク 集) . In: 防災 情報 新聞 (online edition of the Bosaijoho Shimbun). Bosaijoho Shinbun-sha, February 5, 2012, accessed December 3, 2012 (Japanese).
- 雪崩 の 恐怖 は こ れ か ら . In:Yomiuri Online. Yomiuri Shimbun, February 2, 2006,accessed December 3, 2012(Japanese).
Coordinates: 37 ° 1 ′ 14 " N , 137 ° 46 ′ 47.2" E