Tornado kills at least 3 in Japan's Hokkaido

TOKYO, Nov 7: At least three people were killed and a dozen injured after a tornado hit a prefabricated building and houses in northern Japan today, officials said.

''Three or four people were killed and more than ten people were injured. Another three or four are missing,'' said a spokesman for the fire department in Engaru, located in the northeast of Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido.

Television footage from the town of Saroma showed workers trying to rescue those still trapped in the collapsed prefabricated building, which a town official said was being used as a temporary dormitory for workers at a construction site.

Crushed cars were being moved away from the site, where lumber was strewn across the ground.

''We hope that the number of deaths will be in single digits, but there are also people missing,'' the Saroma official told Reuters.

REUTERS