Police raid Japan tunnel operator after collapse
By ELAINE KURTENBACH?
?By ELAINE KURTENBACHA worker inspects the structure inside the 1.65-kilometer (1-mile) Tsuburano Tunnel on the Tomei Expressway in Yamakitamachi, Kanagawa Prefecture, eastern Japan, Monday, Dec. 3, 2012. Concrete ceiling panels fell onto moving vehicles deep inside a tunnel on another expressway in Japan Sunday, and authorities confirmed nine deaths before suspending rescue work Monday while the roof was being reinforced to prevent more collapses. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, FRANCE, HONG KONG, JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA
A worker inspects the structure inside the 1.65-kilometer (1-mile) Tsuburano Tunnel on the Tomei Expressway in Yamakitamachi, Kanagawa Prefecture, eastern Japan, Monday, Dec. 3, 2012. Concrete ceiling panels fell onto moving vehicles deep inside a tunnel on another expressway in Japan Sunday, and authorities confirmed nine deaths before suspending rescue work Monday while the roof was being reinforced to prevent more collapses. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, FRANCE, HONG KONG, JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA
Workers inspect the structure inside the 1.65-kilometer (1-mile) Tsuburano Tunnel on the Tomei Expressway in Yamakitamachi, Kanagawa Prefecture, eastern Japan, Monday, Dec. 3, 2012. Concrete ceiling panels fell onto moving vehicles deep inside a tunnel on another expressway in Japan Sunday, and authorities confirmed nine deaths before suspending rescue work Monday while the roof was being reinforced to prevent more collapses. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, FRANCE, HONG KONG, JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA
Workers inspect the structure inside the 1.65-kilometer (1-mile) Tsuburano Tunnel on the Tomei Expressway in Yamakitamachi, Kanagawa Prefecture, eastern Japan, Monday, Dec. 3, 2012. Concrete ceiling panels fell onto moving vehicles deep inside a tunnel on another expressway in Japan Sunday, and authorities confirmed nine deaths before suspending rescue work Monday while the roof was being reinforced to prevent more collapses. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, FRANCE, HONG KONG, JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA
Firefighters work at the exit of the Sasago Tunnel on the Chuo Expressway in Otsuki, Yamanashi Prefecture, central Japan, Monday morning, Dec. 3, 2012. Concrete ceiling slabs fell onto moving vehicles deep inside the tunnel Sunday, and authorities confirmed nine deaths before suspending rescue work Monday while the roof was being reinforced to prevent more collapses. The sign attached to a mobile lighting pole, left, reads "Land and Transport Ministry." (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, FRANCE, HONG KONG, JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA
Workers inspect the structure inside the 8.5-kilometer (5.3-mile) Enasan Tunnel on the Chuo Expressway in Achimura, Nagano Prefecture, central Japan, Monday morning, Dec. 3, 2012. Concrete ceiling panels fell onto moving vehicles deep inside another tunnel on the same epressway Sunday, and authorities confirmed nine deaths before suspending rescue work Monday while the roof was being reinforced to prevent more collapses. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, FRANCE, HONG KONG, JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA
TOKYO (AP) ? Police investigating an expressway-tunnel ceiling collapse that killed nine people searched the offices of the tunnel operator Tuesday to see if there is any evidence that the company neglected safety.
Hundreds of concrete slabs collapsed Sunday deep inside the Sasago Tunnel west of Tokyo, falling on three moving vehicles. The accident is raising calls for more spending on Japan's aging infrastructure.
The tunnel, a major link between Tokyo and central Japan, opened in 1977 at about the peak of the country's postwar road construction boom. Central Nippon Expressway Co., its government-owned operator, said it had no record of any repairs performed since then, but company official Satoshi Noguchi said an inspection of the tunnel's roof in September found nothing amiss.
Authorities early Tuesday raided several of the company's offices, including its headquarters in the central city of Nagoya. About a dozen uniformed police were shown on television entering the headquarters, toting cardboard and plastic boxes.
"Yes they are searching our offices here. We will be fully cooperating with them," said Osamu Funahashi, another company official.
The transport ministry, meanwhile, has ordered inspections of 49 other highway and road tunnels of similar construction around the mountainous country.
An estimated 270 concrete slabs suspended from the arched roof of the tunnel, each weighing 1.4 metric tons (1.54 short tons), fell over a stretch of about 110 meters (120 yards), Noguchi said. Two people suffered injuries in the collapse.
The operator was exploring the possibility that bolts holding a metal piece suspending the panels above the road had weakened with age, he said. The panels, measuring about 5 meters (16 feet) by 1.2 meters (4 feet), and 8 centimeters (3 inches) thick, were installed when the 4.7-kilometer-long (3-mile-long) tunnel was constructed in 1977.
Crews had to stop recovery work Monday in the tunnel about 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of Tokyo because the roof needed to be reinforced to prevent more collapses, said Jun Goto, an official at the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.
By Tuesday, crews were removing the concrete slabs from the tunnel, said Goto, who added that authorities do not expect to find any more victims inside.
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Associated Press writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.
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