On August 12, 2012 the relatives of the victims of the Japan Airlines jumbo jet crash in the year 1985 observed the 27th Anniversary of the accident in Gunma Prefecture. More than 500 people had died in the crash.
About 200 relatives of the victims climbed the Osutaka Ridge to visit the site of the crash and even offered prayers at the cenotaph. Yoshiharu Ueki, the JAL president also made the climb.
The flight had crashed at 6:56 pm and a ceremony was held at the same time in Ueno village at the foot of the mountain. On August 12, 1985, the JAL flight 123 had 524 people aboard and took off from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport at 06:12 pm.
After 12 minutes in to the flight, a bulkhead was believed to have blown the tail which created over pressurisation and severed four sets of hydraulic control lines and blew a part of the tail section off. Along with the total loss of hydraulic pressure the pilot tried his best to regain control of the aircraft which descended uncontrollably in a flight condition known as the ‘Dutch Roll’. Exactly at 06:56 pm the plane crashed in to the mountain. The rescue workers arrived 12 hours late at the spot and found just four survivors.
