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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