The Matsukawa derailment (松川事件, Matsukawa jiken) occurred at 0309 AM on August 17, 1949 when a Tōhoku Main Line passenger train derailed and overturned between Kanayagawa and Matsukawa stations in Fukushima Prefecture Japan, killing three crew members. Together with the Mitaka and Shimoyama incidents, it was one of three major criminal cases involving allegations of sabotage blamed by the government on Japanese Communist Party and the Japan National Railway Union in the immediate post-war era and received tremendous publicity.