Kumamoto airport in southwestern Japan reopened Tuesday for commercial flights for the first time since a series of powerful earthquakes struck the area, while the death toll in the disaster rose to 45 as workers continued search efforts three days after a magnitude-7.3 temblor, according to Kyodo News.

Aside from the deaths directly attributed to the earthquakes, the first death from the so-called economy-class syndrome was reported Tuesday as a number of survivors have been spending nights in their vehicles.

As of Tuesday, some 117,000 people remained evacuated from their homes in Kumamoto Prefecture and neighboring Oita Prefecture, local governments said.

Source: MENA