Japan Orders Tunnel Inspections

Japanese authorities Tuesday ordered an emergency inspection of thousands of tunnels following the weekend collapse of a road tunnel in northern Japan that is believed to have trapped 20 people.

“No one could predict such a disaster would happen,” Construction Minister Eiichi Nakao told a news conference after ordering inspections of all 7,000 road tunnels in the country. “More investigations and precautions are needed.”

In a similar move, Transport Minister Yoshiyuki Kamei ordered checks on all of Japan’s 4,500 railway tunnels.

Rescuers continued Tuesday to be thwarted in attempts to rescue people believed trapped in vehicles by the Saturday collapse of a 44-foot section of the Toyohama tunnel, about 30 miles northwest of Sapporo, capital of the island of Hokkaido.

The workers postponed a fourth attempt to blast into the tunnel until today. A controlled explosion earlier Tuesday, like others before it, chipped away only a small part of the 50,000-ton slab that crashed through the roof of the tunnel.

Rescue workers said they will set off explosions until the slab is blasted off the tunnel roof--the tactic they believe is the only way to get to the victims quickly.

There has been no sign of life from the trapped vehicles since the accident.