Photo gallery: Japanese motorway tunnel caves in, vehicles ablaze
Rescue workers and police gather outside the Sasago tunnel along the Chuo highway near the city of Otsuki in Yamanashi prefecture, 80km west of Tokyo on Dec 2, 2012, after part of the tunnel collapsed. -- PHOTO: AFP
Police vehicles are parked at the entrance as smoke billows out of the Sasago Tunnel on the Chuo Expressway in Koshu, Yamanashi Prefecture, central Japan on Sunday, Dec 2, 2012. -- PHOTO: AP
A policeman stands guard in front of emergency service vehicles on the road leading to the entrance of the collapsed Sasago tunnel on the Chuo expressway in Koshu city, Yamanashi prefecture, some 80km west of Tokyo on Dec 2, 2012. -- PHOTO: AFP
A surveillance monitor picture showing a car and rescue team in the Sasago Tunnel on the Chuo Expressway in Yamanashi prefecture, is pictured at a branch office of Central Nippon Expressway Company in Hachioji in this photo taken by Kyodo on Dec 2, 2012. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
Rescue workers and policeman gather alongside emergency services vehicles on the road leading to the entrance of the collapsed Sasago tunnel on the Chuo expressway in Koshu city, Yamanashi prefecture, some 80km west of Tokyo on Dec 2, 2012. -- PHOTO: AFP
A motorway tunnel caved in 80 km west of Tokyo on Sunday, trapping an unspecified number of vehicles, press reports said. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
TOKYO (AFP) - An unknown number of vehicles were ablaze inside a collapsed motorway tunnel – one of the longest in Japan – outside Tokyo on Sunday, police said, as a full-scale emergency operation swung into action.
At least three vehicles were crushed and three people were injured in the accident, public broadcaster NHK said, but the report could not be immediately confirmed by police and fire department officials.












