Some 250 people who were evacuated to local inns after avalanches buried 22 vehicles along a mountain road in Nagano Prefecture on Sunday began making their descent Monday as the road was cleared of snow, local police said.
Nagano Prefectural Police dispatched some 40 officers as well as helicopters to the site of the avalanches to make sure no one was left behind.
According to local rescue officials, the avalanches occurred near the entrance to the Hirukubo Tunnel along a 500-meter stretch of the 35.1-km-long Kamikochi-Norikura mountain road from around 11:30 a.m.