1 Death in the Tunnel

Falling Rocks! Anyone who has driven through a mountain region has read a road sign like this one. Most people don't even notice such signs. If they do, they don't give them much thought. After all, what are the odds of being killed by a rock as it falls down a mountain?

Japanese media gather in front of the entrance to the Toyohama Tunnel shortly after the boulder fell.

If you think those odds are long, what would you say are the chances of being killed by a falling rock while driving through a tunnel? Believe it or not, it has happened. On February 10, 1996, a huge rock broke free from a mountain on the Japanese island of Hokkaido. It fell right onto the Toyohama Tunnel.

The rock that fell wasn't just a rock. It was a boulder. It weighed close to 50,000 tons. It was 210 feet tall and 120 feet wide. That made it as big as a 20-story building.

The falling boulder hit the top of the Toyohama Tunnel and crashed right through. At that exact moment, a car was passing through the tunnel. So was a bus carrying 19 people. About half of the people on the bus were teenagers. They came from the nearby fishing village of Furubira. They were on their way to a winter carnival.Both the bus and the car were pinned underneath the huge boulder.

No one knows for sure why the boulder broke free. Perhaps a small earthquake had loosened it. There are many earthquakes in that part of Japan. Or perhaps the weather was to blame. It often snows in Hokkaido.When the snow melts,the water runs into cracks in the mountains. Then cold weather comes again, turning the water to ice. As the water becomes ice, it expands. It does so with enough force to crack a rock. Over many years, the ice could have opened a bigger and bigger crack in the mountain. In time, the ice could have loosened a boulder.

This was not the first massive boulder to fall in Hokkaido. Eighteen months earlier a boulder had fallen. It hit the ground not far from the Toyohama Tunnel. That boulder was twice as big as this one. Luckily, though, that one did not fall on anyone.

This time, 20 people were trapped under the boulder. Were any of them still alive? Rescuers managed to slip a tiny camera down through the debris into the tunnel. The camera showed parts of the crushed car and bus. It picked up no signs of life. But there was still the possibility that someone had survived. They had to get into the tunnel to find out. Everyone agreed it had to be done, but no one knew quite how to do it.

For 11 long hours, rescuers talked about what to do. At last, they decided not to dig straight through the tunnel. That would weaken the land above the tunnel's roof. Then they might have a second rockfall on their hands. Instead, they decided they would try to move the huge boulder. Then they could dig in through the top of the tunnel.

Meanwhile, friends and family members of the victims rushed to the site. There they waited for news. Soon it began to snow. The temperature fell quickly. “Hurry up! Please hurry up! ” cried some of the people to the rescuers. They knew that if the rescuers didn't get into the tunnel soon, anyone still alive would freeze to death.

The rescuers decided to blast the boulder off the roof. With enough force, they could blow it into the sea below the tunnel. So they set off 550 pounds of dynamite. It was not enough. Only a tiny piece of the boulder broke off.

The rescuers could have used more dynamite. But they feared that too big a blast would cause a second rockfall. “We did not achieve our aim of removing the boulder because we cut the amount [of dynamite] for safety reasons, ” said one rescuer.

The next day,rescuers tried another blast.But again,only a small piece of the boulder broke off. The following day they tried a third time.Still,they couldn't topple the rock.By this time,three days had passed. Family members and friends began to lose hope. “The past few days I've cried and cried while watching this unfold, ” said one relative. “I just don't have any more tears.”

Some of the people became angry. They figured their loved ones inside the tunnel were dead by this time. All they wanted was to retrieve the bodies.“Even if they are dead,hurry up and pull them out of there, ” one person demanded.

On the fourth day, the rescuers blasted the boulder again. This time it worked. The explosion sent the boulder plunging down into the sea below the tunnel.

Even with the boulder gone, there was still a lot of work to do. The roof of the tunnel itself had to be cleared away. That took another two days. At last, on February 16, the rescuers reached the car. It had taken a direct hit. The force of the falling boulder was so enormous it drove the car into the ground. The driver, a 20-year-old clerk, was found dead at the wheel.

The day after that, rescuers finally reached the bus. It, too, had taken a direct hit. The bus had been crushed to a height of just three feet. No one inside was alive. Family members took some comfort in learning that the passengers had died right away. In that sense, the delay in digging out the tunnel had not mattered.

Villagers from Furubira later put up an altar at the tunnel. It was meant to honor the dead. But it also served as a warning. A sign that reads Falling Rocks should be taken seriously. While the odds against it are great, rocks perched high above the road can break loose and kill people.