130 cars in half-mile pile-up on Japanese motorway leaves one dead

Watch: Over 100 vehicles involved in massive pile-up on Japanese expressway

At least 134 cars were involved in a massive pile-up on a Japanese motorway that left one person dead and more than a dozen injured.

The series of collisions occurred when a snowstorm struck a stretch of the Tohoku Expressway near Osaki City in the northern prefecture of Miyagi at midday on Tuesday.

The pile-up of cars stretched half a mile down the road, the government said.

Two hundred people were caught up in the crashes, Japan’s disaster management agency added.

One person was killed and 17 people were transported to hospital, according to Japanese publication NHK.

The publication identified the victim as Mihiro Sudo, 65, from the city of Ichinoseki.

Read: Serbia becomes first European country to use Chinese COVID-19 vaccine

The wind suddenly intensified at the observation point in Furukawa, Osaki near the site of the accident, according to NHK, which cited the Japan Meteorological Agency.

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

A man in his forties from Sendai, who was driving to Iwate prefecture for work when the accident occured, described the scene to NHK.

He said: "I was in a situation where visibility was poor due to a snowstorm.”

The man added he saw an accident up ahead and stopped, then the car behind hit him. He said: “I was scared because I couldn't move for about six hours."

Rescue operations and car removals were reportedly completed by 8pm local time but drivers were left stranded in their cars for hours.

The publication said that many vehicles were stranded so officials from Osaki provided drinking water, food and blankets to drivers from around 2.40pm.

Watch: New York bus crash: Nine injured after vehicle plunges 49ft off bridge