Sakuragicho Incident

Japanese: 桜木町事件 - さくらぎちょうじけん

A train fire occurred at Sakuragicho Station in Yokohama. On April 24, 1951, a broken overhead wire caught fire near Sakuragicho Station on the National Railways Keihin-Tohoku Line when it became entangled with the pantograph of a train heading south. The first car was completely burned, the second was partially burned, 106 people were killed, and 92 people were injured. The train was an old-style 63 train, made of wooden boards clad in a steel frame, which made it flammable. In addition, the windows had bars nailed to them, and the location of the manual cock to open the doors in an emergency was not disclosed to passengers for fear of being tampered with. As a result, passengers were unable to escape when the train caught fire.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

横浜市桜木町駅で起こった電車火災事故。1951年4月24日，国電京浜東北線桜木町駅の近くで，切れて垂れていた架線が下り電車のパンタグラフにからみついて発火し，1両目が全焼，2両目が半焼，死者106人，重軽傷92人という大惨事となった。車両は旧式の六三型で，鉄骨に木板を張っただけのために燃えやすかった。それに窓には桟を打ちつけてあり，非常の際に戸を開ける手動コックの所在も，いたずらされるからと乗客には知らされていなかったので，車両が発火しても乗客は外に脱出することができなかった。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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