TOKYO: Dozens of flights and trains were cancelled on Sunday as snow blanketed Tokyo, with more than 50 people injured in weather-related accidents, officials 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 as 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.

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 also cancelled.

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.


- AFP/so