TOKYO, Feb 3, 2008 (AFP) - Dozens of flights and trains were cancelled Sunday as snow blanketed Tokyo and its vicinities, with more than 170 people injured in weather-related accidents, officials and news reports said. Japanese airlines cancelled more than 140 domestic flights, mainly to or from Tokyo's Haneda airport, where one of the three runways was temporarily closed as snow disturbed the guidance system, officials said. Several train services in the capital were also cancelled, while Shinkansen bullet trains were delayed, train company officials said. Highways were closed at many points in Tokyo and its environs as three centimetres (more than an inch) of snow fell in the capital. At least 53 people were sent to hospital in snow-related incidents in Tokyo, said a spokesman for the Tokyo Fire Department. "Most of them were injured after they slipped and fell on snow-covered pavements. Several broke legs or arms," the spokesman said. Japanese public broadcaster NHK said the number of injuries totalled 173, including 23 serious casualties, in the capital and its surrounding areas, while 715 car and other snow-related accidents were reported to local police.
Snowfalls, the heaviest in the capital this winter, also hampered weekend sports events. Organisers of the Oume Marathon, scheduled to take place in Tokyo on Sunday morning, decided to cancel the 59th annual race for the first time in 12 years because the course was covered with snow. Two rugby matches in the nation's top league were called off, while all the horse races at Tokyo Racecourse were cancelled. Several outside attractions were also cancelled at Tokyo Disney Land. A further three centimetres of snow is forecast in downtown Tokyo by late Sunday, while much heavier snowfalls are expected in mountain areas north of the capital, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. In Nagano, north of Tokyo, two skiers remained unconscious on Sunday after they were engulfed in an avalanche at a ski resort in central Japan following heavy snow, police said.
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