At least seven people were missing and several were feared dead after 150 concrete panels fell from the roof of a tunnel on the main highway linking Tokyo with central Japan.
Efforts to rescue survivors trapped inside the tunnel were hindered by heavy smoke after a vehicle caught fire inside the Sasago Tunnel, 50 miles outside Tokyo. Rescuers also temporarily suspended work because of fears of a further collapse.
They were trying to reach several vehicles buried in the rubble, including a truck whose trapped driver had called his company for help.
"I could hear voices of people calling for help, but the fire was just too strong," said a woman after she escaped from the tunnel.
The Fire and Disaster Management Agency issued a statement late last night saying five people were confirmed to have been in a car that burned inside the tunnel, and at least one other was in a truck.
They could not confirm the exact number of people believed dead.
Executives for Central Japan Expressway said the company was investigating why the concrete panels had given way. They said recent checks had found nothing amiss
The tunnel, which opened in 1977, is one of many in mountainous Japan. The location of the collapse, about a mile inside the tunnel, complicated rescue efforts.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article