東北道で数十台多重事故　約１４０台現場に―１人死亡、３人重傷・宮城

　１９日午前１１時５０分ごろ、宮城県大崎市の東北自動車道下り線古川インターチェンジ（ＩＣ）付近で、乗用車やトラックなど数十台が絡む事故があった。県警高速隊などによると１９人が搬送され、うち男性１人が死亡、３人が重傷という。付近には約１．２キロにわたって最大約１４０台が停車し、約２００人が車内に残された。県警などは車両の移動を進め、午後８時すぎに完了した。大崎市は足止めされた運転手らに毛布や食料などを配布した。
　気象庁によると、大崎市古川では正午ごろ、最大瞬間風速２７．８メートルを観測、気温は氷点下３．６度だった。高速隊は、猛烈な風と雪で視界が奪われる「ホワイトアウト」が起きた可能性があるとみて事故原因を調べる。
　事故の影響で東北道は大和ＩＣ―築館ＩＣ間で通行止めとなった。（2021/01/19-22:19）

A pileup involving dozens of vehicles has happened on an expressway in northeastern Japan, possibly due to a phenomenon known as whiteout, leaving a man dead and three other people seriously injured.
   The accident occurred near the Furukawa Interchange on the outbound lanes of the Tohoku Expressway in the city of Osaki, Miyagi Prefecture, around 11:50 a.m. Tuesday (2:50 a.m. GMT).
   A total of 19 people were taken to hospital, according to the Miyagi prefectural police department's expressway patrol unit and other sources.
   Up to some 140 automobiles were stuck in the accident, forming a line stretching about 1.2 kilometers, with about 200 people left inside the vehicles. The prefectural police and others finished work to remove the stranded vehicles shortly after 8 p.m. The Osaki city government provided affected people with blankets, food and other relief supplies.
   According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the Furukawa district in the city logged a temperature of 3.6 degrees Celsius below zero and a maximum instantaneous wind speed of 27.8 meters per second around noon Tuesday. The expressway patrol unit will look into the details of the pileup, suspecting the possibility of the accident being caused by whiteout, in which visibility falls almost to zero due to windblown snow.