Japan: five workers are missing after an undersea tunnel collapsed at Kurashiki

[Andrey Eroshin]

07.02.12.

Five workers are missing after an undersea tunnel collapsed at one of Japan's biggest oil refineries, emergency services have said.

The workers were in the partially built tunnel at Kurashiki, 550km (345 miles) west of Tokyo, when it caved in.

A survivor "said that sea water came gushing in" and flooded the tunnel.

Police rescue divers have entered the vertical shaft of the tunnel, but are battling against poor visibility because of debris, mud and oil.

The accident happened at Mizushima Refinery, operated by JX Nippon Oil and Energy Corp.

Officials say it is not clear whether sea water is continuing to flow into the tunnel and create dangerous currents which are hampering the search effort.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16925675

http://www.asahi.com/national/update/0207/OSK201202070060.html

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(Reuters) - Attempts to find five workers missing in an underwater tunnel at a refinery in western Japan were suspended on Tuesday due to poor visibility that posed a risk to rescue divers, police said.

Live TV showed divers in debris-filled water as emergency services waited at the top of the 30 meter wide entrance to the tunnel at Mizushima oil refinery in Okayama prefecture after the men, aged 38 to 61, went missing when it flooded with seawater.

One worker escaped from the tunnel, said a spokesman for operator JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp, Japan's biggest refiner.

"Debris and oil were floating all over. There was no visibility at all," an Okayama police official said. "There was a risk of divers being involved in a secondary accident."

It was unclear when they would resume rescue operations, he said.

The tunnel, 35 meters deep and 820 meters long, is to connect Mizushima refinery-B to refinery-A and carry pipelines used to transport oil and semi-finished products. JX launched the project two years ago.

Operations and shipments from the 365,000 barrels per day refinery were not affected by the accident, the spokesman said.

The cause of the accident is not yet known, he said.

The refinery is located at a coastal industrial zone where petrochemical, steel and other factories also exist.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/07/us-jx-accident-idUSTRE816...