JAPAN TWO PINS JAPAN'S DISASTER TOLL LAST WEEK STOOD AT 450 IN 
THE KYUSHU MINE EXPLOSION, AND 162 IN THE THREE-TRAIN WRECK NEAR 
YOKOHAMA . AS FAR AS ANYONE COULD DETERMINE, BOTH TRAGEDIES RESULTED 
FROM FAULTY COTTER PINS, ONLY AN INCH OR TWO LONG . 
AT THE MIKAWA MINE ON SOUTHERN KYUSHU ISLAND, A COTTER PIN 
APPARENTLY FELL OUT OF A COUPLING ON A STRING OF COAL 
CARS HALTED ON A SLIGHT INCLINE . ONE COAL CAR ROLLED 
BACK DOWN INTO THE MINE . GATHERING SPEED, IT FLEW OFF 
THE TRACK ON A CURVE IN THE TUNNEL AND STRUCK THE 
MINE WALL, SHOWERING THE FATAL SPARKS THAT IGNITED COAL DUST IN 
A VAST EXPLOSION . AT TSURUMI, OUTSIDE YOKOHAMA, ANOTHER COTTER PIN 
EVIDENTLY SHEARED OFF THE WHEEL HOUSING OF A SOUTHBOUND FREIGHT CAR 
. THE LOOSE LOST WHEEL CAUSED THE LAST THREE CARS TO 
DERAIL AND SPRAWL ACROSS THE ADJACENT TRACK . SECONDS LATER, ALERTED 
BY A WARNING FLARE, A PASSENGER TRAIN SOUTHBOUND FROM TOKYO HALTED 
ON A CLEAR TRACK BESIDE THE FREIGHT . AT THAT MOMENT, 
A NORTHBOUND COMMUTER TRAIN ROARED UP THE MIDDLE TRACK . THE 
LOCOMOTIVE CRASHED INTO THE DERAILED FREIGHT CARS, DID A RIGHT ANGLE 
FLIP AND SLICED THROUGH THE FIFTH AND SIX COACHES OF THE 
PASSENGER TRAIN . THE FIRST RESCUERS RECOILED FROM THE CARNAGE . 
RECALLED ONE : " THERE WERE BODIES PILED FOUR TO SIX 
DEEP . THERE WERE LEGS, ARMS AND HEADS TORN OFF, ALL 
BLOODY, SCATTERED EVERYWHERE . IT WAS A HORRIBLE HUMAN VERSION OF 
A DOLL REPAIR SHOP . " WITH NATIONAL ELECTIONS BEING HELD 
THIS WEEK, THE SOCIALIST OPPOSITION HURRIEDLY TRIED TO MAKE POLITICAL CAPITAL 
OF THE TRAGEDIES . AN OFFICIAL SOCIALIST STATEMENT BLAMED THE GOVERNMENT, 
WHICH OPERATES THE RAILWAYS, AND THE PRIVATE OWNERS OF THE MINE 
FOR " HAVING PLACED TOO MUCH EMPHASIS ON EFFICIENCY AND PROFIT 
AND NOT ENOUGH ON THE SAFETY AND SECURITY OF PASSENGERS AND 
EMPLOYEES . " THE MINE OWNERS, WHO USED TO BOAST TO 
FOREIGN VISITORS THAT THE MIKAWA WAS AN " UNDERGROUND PALACE, " 
COULD HAVE RETORTED THAT GOVERNMENT INSPECTORS HAD FOUND MIKAWA TO BE 
AMONG THE BESTEQUIPPED MINES IN THE COUNTRY . THE GOVERNMENT COULD 
POINT OUT THAT THE STRETCH OF TRACK WHERE THE COLLISION OCCURRED 
WAS EQUIPPED WITH MODERN SAFETY DEVICES BUT THEY PROVED USELESS BECAUSE 
THE ENTIRE CHAIN OF EVENTS, FROM THE DERAILMENT OF THE FREIGHT 
CARS TO THE ARRIVAL OF THE THIRD TRAIN, TOOK LESS THAN 
30 SECONDS . FEW JAPANESE HAD HEART TO ENTER THE ARGUMENT 
; THEY WERE TOO BUSY BURYING THE DEAD AND WORRYING ABOUT 
THE SURVIVORS . OF THE 274 HOSPITALIZED MINERS, AN ALARMING 100 
WERE SUFFERING FROM AMNESIA . AS TRAFFIC RESUMED ON THE TOKYO-YOKOHAMA 
LINE, THE TRAINS MOVED SLOWLY PAST TSURUMI AND SOBBING PASSENGERS DROPPED 
BOUQUETS AT THE ACCIDENT SPOT . RAILWAY WORKERS COLLECTED THE FLOWERS 
AND REVERENTLY ARRANGED THEM ON AN EMBANKMENT BESIDE THE TRACK 