Society

46 Chinese workers unaccounted for in northern Japan

Dec 04 (Kyodo) - Forty-six Chinese construction workers in Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido have gone missing after 11 compatriots were arrested over their eligibility to stay in the country, sources related to their work said Monday.

The 11 Chinese workers, aged between 27 and 62, were arrested in the early hours of Nov. 26 near JR Kikonai Station on suspicion of violating the immigration control law. Two were allegedly not carrying passports and nine are believed to have overstayed their visas.

It was not immediately clear under which visas they entered Japan.

Of the 11, 10 men were working at the same construction site in the town of Shiriuchi, southern Hokkaido, as the 46 workers who have disappeared.

According to the sources, the arrested Chinese workers and others were dispatched to Hokkaido from a company in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, around September to build a mega solar power plant.

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