Several dead in Japan tunnel collapse: reports

Police have confirmed that nine bodies were found in three vehicles inside the Sasago tunnel on the Chuo Expressway, which collapsed yesterday morning, Jiji Press and Kyodo News said.u00a0

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Concrete ceiling panels crushed cars and triggered the fire inside the nearly five-kilometre tunnel, 80 kilometres west of Tokyo.u00a0

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Emergency workers had collected five charred bodies -- three men and two women -- from a vehicle by early today, Jiji said.u00a0

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They had also recovered the body of a truck driver, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. He has been identified as 50-year-old Tatsuya Nakagawa, who contacted his firm immediately after the incident to ask for help, national broadcaster NHK said.u00a0

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Three other deaths have been confirmed, an elderly man and two elderly women, who were all in the same passenger vehicle, Kyodo News said.u00a0

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Local police officials in Yamanashi prefecture could not be reached for a immediate confirmation.u00a0

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Footage from security cameras inside the tunnel showed large concrete panels that had apparently fallen from the ceiling with teams of men in protective gear scrambling over them.u00a0

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Police had launched a negligence probe, Jiji said, while the operator of the highway said they found no abnormality during a regular inspection of the tunnel in September.

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