The BBC's Rupert Wingfield Hayes says
emergency inspections of other sections of the tunnel - and of other tunnels in
Japan - are taking place
Nine people are now confirmed to have died
after a major tunnel collapsed in Japan, officials say.
The bodies were found in three vehicles
that were crushed by fallen concrete panels in the Sasago tunnel, about 80km
(50 miles) west of the capital Tokyo.
A fire broke out after the tunnel caved in
on Sunday, and a number of survivors fled to safety on foot.
The usually busy tunnel remains closed, as
police are investigating potential negligence.
There will be serious questions about how a
major tunnel on one of Japan's most important traffic arteries could have
failed so catastrophically, the BBC's Rupert Wingfield Hayes in Tokyo reports.
The private company that runs the highway
has said the tunnel was given a major inspection just two months ago and was
given a clean bill of health, our correspondent adds.
Emergency workers said that five bodies
were recovered from a van early on Monday. They were identified as three men
and two women, all in their twenties and from Tokyo, Kyodo news agency
reported.
Another woman, aged 28, who had been in the
vehicle survived.
Three bodies were found in a car and
another body in a lorry.
The driver of the lorry had reportedly
telephoned for help from inside the 4.3km (2.7 miles) twin-bore tunnel - one of
the longest in Japan.
Part of the tunnel collapsed at 08:00 local
time (23:00 GMT Saturday).
Thick black smoke was seen billowing from
the tunnel, hampering rescue efforts.
Pictures from closed circuit TV cameras
inside the tunnel later showed a section of up to 100m (328ft) that had caved
in on the Tokyo-bound lanes on the Chuo Expressway in Yamanashi prefecture.
A reporter for public broadcaster NHK
described driving through the tunnel as it began to collapse, seeing other cars
trapped and on fire. His car was badly damaged, he said.
Another survivor told the broadcaster that
he saw "a concrete part of the ceiling fall off all of a sudden when I was
driving inside. I saw a fire coming from a crushed car".
Survivor Tomohiro Suzuki said: "A part
of the ceiling, just as wide as the road, had collapsed straight down and
broken in the middle into a V-shape."
He and his family walked for an hour to get
out, with the smoke worsening.
"I heard after a while on the public
address system that a fire had occurred inside the tunnel and the sprinkler
system was going to be activated," he told Jiji Press.
"I kept wondering when the fire would
spread and catch us," Mr Suzuki said.
Japan is prone to large earthquakes, but
none was reported in the area at the time.
Some experts have said that structural
failure may be to blame - but this has not been confirmed by the authorities.
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