Chaos as snow hits Japanese highway, 134 cars in crashes; one dead

General view shows the site where cars were involved in a series of crashes when a snow storm struck a stretch of highway on the Tohoku Expressway in Osaki, Miyagi prefecture, northern Japan January 19, 2021. Kyodo via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. JAPAN OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN JAPAN.

At least 134 cars were involved in a series of crashes in Japan on Tuesday when a snow storm struck a stretch of highway and one person was killed and a dozen hurt in the chaos.

The crashes occurred on the Tohoku Expressway in the northern prefecture of Miyagi at around noon, on a stretch of road about 1 km (half a mile) long, the government said.

Authorities had imposed a speed limit of 50 kph (31 mph) when heavy snow cut visibility but that was not enough to prevent disaster.

General view shows the site where cars were involved in a series of crashes when a snow storm struck a stretch of highway on the Tohoku Expressway in Osaki, Miyagi prefecture, northern Japan January 19, 2021. Kyodo via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. JAPAN OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN JAPAN.

Some 200 people were caught up in the crashes with 12 of them were sent to hospital, the disaster management agency said.

Rescue operations were under way, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters.

Parts of Japan have seen unusually heavy snow in recent weeks.

(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Robert Birsel)