Three people were confirmed dead after they were trapped in a landslide in the early hours of Friday in Ehime Prefecture, western Japan, local authorities said Saturday.
Police identified the three -- a man in his 90s, a woman in her 80s and their son in his 40s -- as members of a family who had been reported missing. They were living in a wooden house that collapsed due to the landslide in Matsuyama.
There were no further reports of anybody missing and the search was called off at the landslide site.
The disaster occurred as the weather agency warned of heavy rain mainly in western Japan, calling on people to be on high alert for landslides and flooding in low-lying areas.
The landslide site is located at the foot of a mountain where Matsuyama Castle, designated as a national treasure, sits. Soil flowed into nearby homes and apartments and search efforts continued through the night.
A retaining wall used to support a road near the castle had been removed and was undergoing repair work following heavy rainfall last year and in the past few weeks.
In regards to whether the landslide was triggered by the repair work, Ehime Gov. Tokihiro Nakamura said he did not know, and that the cause would need to be investigated.
