10A
Tuesday, February 13, 1996
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Boulder hinders rescue
The Associated Press
FURUBIRA, Japan — They ruled out tunneling. They tried blasting twice. After three days, rescusers still could not dislodge a building-sized boulder and reach people trapped inside a crushed tunnel below.
Longest tunnels
The 10 longest highway tunnels in the world, in miles.
1 St. Gotthard Switzerland 10.4
2 Arlberg Austria 8.6
3 Fréjus France / Italy 7.9
4 Mont Blanc France / Italy 7.2
5 Seelisberg Switzerland 5.7
6 Kyushu Japan 4.9
7 San Bernardino Switzerland 4.1
8 St. Bernhard Switzerland / Italy 3.6
9 Felbertauern Austria 3.48
10 Viella Spain 3.46
And, as today approached, they grew less sure by the hour that anyone remained alive to rescue inside the snowy mountain at the edge of the sea.
Meanwhile, disheartened relatives watched, waited and looked plaintively into the darkness beyond the floodlit tunnel entrance. Inside, crews could see part of the crushed bus. But they could not approach it safely.
Knight-Ridder Tribune
"It's regrettable that the expected outcome has not been achieved. I apologize to the families," said Makoto Niyama of the Hokkaido Development Agency, which is heading rescue efforts.
Through the night, national television showed live video of the scene, and the satellite trucks of news crews outnumbered emergency vehicles clustered outside the tunnel.
The drama has dominated national news coverage and traumatized this tightly knit fishing village in northern Japan, where many of the 5,000 residents knew at least one of the 19 people on the bus.
Another person was believed trapped in a car in the tunnel, located at the base of a jagged mountain that rears up out of the sea.
Officials said they would decide this morning whether to attempt a third blast, NHK Television reported. Even setting up explosives threatened to cause further collapse, rescuers said.
After the second blast yesterday, the boulder appeared dangerously precarious, with a hole at its base.
The rock, 210 feet tall and 120 feet wide, is believed to weigh 50,000 tons.
The setback left rescue workers at a loss and deepened the anguish of family members, whose hopes of finding loved ones alive have ebbed since the accident early Saturday.
Work crews already have tried digging in from the ends of the tunnel but feared they would cause what was left of the roof to cave in. And the explosions budged the rock only slightly.
"Looks like they failed again," said Masahiko Watanabe, watching yesterday's blast on television at home. He and other residents are growing irritated at what they consider slow rescue efforts.
"They've wasted so much time it's disgusting. Watanabe said.
Watanabe was referring to delays between the blasts Sunday and yesterday and an 11-hour period after the accident during which rescuers
deliberated about how to proceed.
The accident happened on the rugged, windswept coastline of Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island, about 550 miles north of Tokyo. A huge boulder slipped the mountainside and pierced the roof of the highway tunnel, trapping the bus in a shower of rubble.
After nearly three days of subfreezing temperatures, few retain much hope that survivors will be found. People are referring to those with loved ones inside the tunnel as "bereaved."
What caused the accident is not clear. Some officials speculated the slab of rock broke free because of a fissure in the mountainside which developed over the years by water seeping into cracks and freezing, forcing the cracks to widen.
A committee of police, municipal officials, the military and firefighters met yesterday evening to plan their next moves.
Russian wealthy, elite suffer from Red scare
The Associated Press
MOSCOW — A glossy magazine for Russian businessmen is about to hit newsstands with an article, only half tongue-in-cheek, on "how to flee."
A banker with ties to the Kremlin and savings in Switzerland talks, only half-jokingly, about liquidating his Russian holdings in case he has to make a quick getaway abroad.
And a Western diplomat hears the same semi-serious question posed by more and more of Russia's liberal elite: "If things go bad, will you get us out of here?"
Four months before presidential elections, a distinct queasiness is settling over the wealthy and the intellectual circles of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Communists are riding a wave of popular support, while the pro-reform camp is divided.
Most Russians, including wealthy ones, are waiting to see what happens before they get seriously worried. Many say the Communists — if they could win the presidency in June — wouldn't really be able to turn back the clock on democratic and free-market reforms.
But would they try? Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov gives disturbing signals.
Zyuganov, who polls would be a strong candidate for president, tells Western businessmen that he backs limited private enterprise and would make Russia a more stable, profitable place for their money.
is anti-Western and anti-free market, favoring a return to state subsidies and state control. At rallies he stands alongside virulent anti-Semites, Stalinists and extreme nationalists.
A gathering last week of communist factions, including Zyuganov's, issued a statement promising the return of property to the people, and the restoration of workers' power ... socialism and the USSR.
Statements like that led Dengi ("Money") magazine to advise readers, in a story to be published this week, how to apply for residence abroad in case of emergency.
But to other audiences, Zyuganov
"If you have much money, you'd better turn it into diamonds," advises the reporter, Olga Kamenenea.
Many rich Russians have long stashed their fortunes, even their families, abroad for fear of crime and general instability.
Western investors have been even warier, and investment advisers, real-estate agents, hoteliers and others say foreigners have been hanging back since Communists and ultranationalists did well in parliamentary elections in December.
"As far as I know, it's only the big bankers who are packing their bags," said losif Bakaleinik, the 42-year-old, Harvard-educated director of the huge, ailing Vladimir Tractor Factory. "The bulk of businessmen have assets they just can't
But Russia has always been a risky investment, and many Russians and Westerners aren't intimidated now.
pack up."
Many argue that the Communists simply want their piece of the capitalist pie. But at least one top Russian banker — who spoke on condition of anonymity — said he is thinking about emigrating because of the Communists' growing influence.
And a Western embassy official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said he is getting more questions about visa procedures.
"The attitude of Russian businessmen is very easy to measure—capital flight has increased sharply," said Economics Minister Yevgeny Yasin. "There are clear signs they are trying to close things up here and move out."
Yasin gave no figures, and some accused him of exaggerating the Communist threat.
Certainly, the stakes are high for the Yeltsin administration. The government stands accused by the Communists and by rival reformist groups of widespread corruption.
And the history of the Communists — who monopolized power for decades and killed millions of people — casts doubt on how their successors would deal with political opponents.
"Russians in the government, who have profited from their position, want to sell (property) as quickly as possible because they know it might be their last chance," said Tatya Zhuravlyova, a property consultant in the Moscow office of the international firm DTZ.
"They don't know if it will be nationalized in August," she said.
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