Rescue teams worked through the night to secure the Gotthard tunnel in Switzerland where 11 people died and up to 128 are still missing following Wednesday's fire.
Meanwhile, a fatal accident on an alternative Alpine route left north-south traffic through Switzerland and Italy blocked for hours yesterday.
Firemen brought the fire in the tunnel under control yesterday afternoon and removed the first bodies. Among the dead were four Germans, one Italian and one from Luxembourg, France and Switzerland. Identification of the other bodies was not immediately possible, said Mr Bruno Winkler, fire chief from the nearby town of Bellizona.
"It will take a long time to identify victims because not many of the people in the tunnel were carrying identity papers," he said.
Mr Romano Piazzini, police chief of the Ticino canton, said he was hopeful the missing list, now totalling over 128 people, would be reduced in the next few days.
He called on people mistakenly registered as missing by friends and family to take themselves off the list.
Another spokesman said that it was "highly improbable" that more than 20 people were killed in the tunnel.
The disaster began on Wednesday morning when two trucks collided and exploded in flames. The 11 victims recovered so far all suffocated after being overcome by noxious fumes given off after tyres and tarpaulins transported by one of the trucks caught fire. Searing temperatures caused a 250-metre stretch of the tunnel roof to collapse. Dozens of motorists abandoned their cars and escaped from the flames and thick acrid smoke through emergency tunnels.
Over 60 fire engines, five helicopters and 300 rescue workers worked in and around the tunnel yesterday and reopened access from the southern side of the tunnel.
Rescue crews said they had identified up to 40 cars in the tunnel with registration plates from Italy, Germany, Spain as well as from the local canton of Tessin. The two trucks whose collision caused the fire are also believed to be foreign-registered. A grief centre was established for families of victims yesterday and Swiss authorities have opened an inquiry into the accident.
The Gotthard tunnel, normally used by more than 18,000 vehicles daily could be closed for up to three months, placing more stress on the San Bernadino tunnel, one of the few remaining arteries for heavy vehicles through Switzerland from Italy.
However that tunnel too was closed for over four hours yesterday morning following a fatal accident, causing traffic chaos on the Swiss border with Germany and Italy.
Police reported that a man was killed when his mini-bus was struck by a truck near the entry to the tunnel yesterday morning.
The San Bernadino tunnel already carries 19,000 vehicles a day. With the Gotthard tunnel now closed, a local politician told Swiss radio he felt "very queasy", when he thought about how many vehicles would now use the route. San Bernadino, built in 1967, has no emergency tunnels.
