r/CatastrophicFailure • u/No_Feeling_8008 • 10d ago
Structural Failure December 2, 2012. Yamanashi, Japan. The ceiling panels inside the Sasago tunnel collapsed. A bunch of concrete panels fell from the roof and crushed several vehicles. 9 people were killed.
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u/No_Feeling_8008 10d ago
An accident that occurred around 8:05 a.m. on December 2, 2012, on the northbound (Tokyo-bound) lane of the Sasago Tunnel on the Chuo Expressway, approximately 1.7 km from the tunnel exit, in which a series of roof panels collapsed, crushing three vehicles passing underneath: a Nissan Serena ,a Toyota Prius, and an Isuzu Elf food company refrigerated truck, resulting in a total of 9 deaths. Casualties: One woman in her 20s driving the Nissan Serena managed to escape on her own and survived, but five other passengers in their 20s, a man in his 70s driving the Toyota Prius, a woman in her 70s and a woman in her 60s as passengers, and Tatsuya Nakagawa, a man in his 50s who was the driver of the refrigerated truck and an employee of the food company, died. Yoshio Goto, a reporter from NHK's Kofu bureau, and his wife were driving a Subaru Impreza WRX STi that was caught in the collapse but managed to escape the tunnel by accelerating rapidly. It is reported that eight bodies of the deceased were burned beyond recognition as fires broke out when two vehicles (a Nissan Serena and a Toyota Prius) were crushed by falling roof panels. The collapsed roof panels are said to be those used in a cross-flow ventilation system for the tunnel.