Four workers at a power station in northern Japan were missing Tuesday after they were engulfed by an avalanche, police said.
The avalanche struck around 10am (0100 GMT) in Tachikawa, 300 kilometers (186 miles) north of Tokyo, after five workers left the Tsukinosawa hydro-electric plant at the foot of Mount Gassan.
They had gone one kilometer (half a mile) south of the plant to inspect a blocked water pipe when the avalanche struck, Yamagata prefectural police official Masao Sato said.
"One of them managed to escape, but the other four are missing," he said. "Police have launched a rescue operation."
Three New Zealand snowboarders were killed in an avalanche in Nagano, central Japan, last February -- TOKYO (AFP)
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