World

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

In this image made off video footage taped Sunday afternoon, Dec. 2, 2012 by Yamanashi Prefectural Police and distributed Monday by Kyodo News, concrete ceiling panels collapse inside the Sasago Tunnel on the Chuo Expressway in Koshu, Yamanashi Prefecture, central Japan. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) 

Concrete ceiling slabs fell onto moving vehicles deep inside a long Japanese highway tunnel, and authorities confirmed nine deaths before suspending rescue work Monday while the roof was being reinforced to prevent more collapses.

Two vehicles caught fire in the accident Sunday morning, and heavy smoke initially hindered rescue efforts. The location of the accident about 1.7 kilometres (a mile) inside the 4.7-kilometre (3-mile) long Sasago Tunnel was also making the work difficult.

The nine dead were travelling in three vehicles in the tunnel about 80 kilometres (50 miles) west of Tokyo on a highway that links the capital to central Japan. The tunnel opened in 1977 and is one of many in the mountainous country.

The search was suspended Monday morning while the highway operator does work to support the remaining slabs in the ceiling, said Jun Goto, an official at the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. It's expected to resume by afternoon.

Goto said it's not clear if there are other survivors.

Police and the highway operator Central Japan Expressway Co. were investigating why the concrete slabs collapsed. An inspection of the tunnel's roof in September found nothing amiss, according to Satoshi Noguchi, a company official.

An estimated 270 concrete slabs, each weighing 1.4 metric tons (1.54 short tons), suspended from the arched roof of the tunnel fell over a stretch of about 110 metres (120 yards), Noguchi said.