We parked our motorcycles in the parking lot of the tip of the Shakotan Peninsula, which is called Shakotan Misaki. Though we would have had to walk for an hour to view the whole area of the beautiful and rugged coastline, we didn't. We saw only accessible places. When we went through the tunnel in the picture, we were amazed at the magnificent view of the coastline and the horizon. I was really sorry that we didn't have enough time to see around and had to leave there soon. We left for Yoichi town without having lunch.
We passed through the present, newly built Toyohama tunnel just before our arrival in Yoichi town. I thought I had to write about the collapse of the former Toyohama tunnel at that time, which had occurred in February in 1996. The tunnel had been drilled through the enormous secure rock and no one thought that the tunnel could collapse.
However, everything which has some form will be sure to collapse even though it might be once in ten thousand years or once in several million years. That designated time was on Feb. 10th in 1996. Twenty people were crushed to immediate death in the collapse. Now, the new securer tunnel was dug parallel with the old one. When I was riding in the tunnel, I prayed for victims in my mind. The picture of the monument to the dead was collected on the net.
積丹岬でも同様に急いで観光して余市へ向かった。時間が無かったのである。そして余市へ着く直前にあの豊浜トンネルを通った。９６年に２０名の死者を出した崩落の起こったトンネルである。トンネルに入る直前、左側に慰霊碑が、出た直後に左後方を見ると、旧のトンネルへ続く道が見えた。時間が押し迫っており、ここも通り過ぎた。
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