The transport ministry will set up a panel to probe Sunday's deadly collapse of a ceiling inside an aging highway tunnel west of Tokyo that may have not been properly maintained.
The panel will probably focus on beefing up regulations for managing and maintaining key road infrastructure, with an eye to creating a stricter inspection regimen and wider, more extensive and uniform safety checks.
The collapse, which took place in the Sasago Tunnel on the Chuo Expressway, which links the capital with major cities to the west, left nine people dead. The site is about 80 km west of Tokyo.