Two Hong Kong tourists in Japan were injured on Monday after their rental car crashed into a tunnel wall on the island of Hokkaido. The driver, a 25-year-old bank employee, was initially unconscious when he was taken to hospital while the 28-year-old woman passenger complained of pain, according to Japanese media. Their conditions were deemed not life threatening. The pair, who hold Hong Kong passports, were travelling on Hokkaido’s Doto Expressway at the time of the accident. The crash ensued when the rental car veered into the oncoming traffic lane and hit the tunnel wall. Local police said they believed the vehicle had skidded on the frozen road surface close to a tunnel entrance. Hong Kong man dies in snowstorm on Japanese mountain after group becomes lost Media outlets in the country said the road was covered with compacted snow and ice. Authorities are still investigating the exact cause of the accident. Steve Huen Kwok-chuen, executive director of travel agency EGL Tours, a provider of self-drive packages in Japan for Hong Kong tourists, said it was generally not recommended for most city residents to drive in snowy conditions. “Particularly those who have never seen snow before or have not even controlled a car on a snowy surface – it is very dangerous,” he warned. “Driving in the snow is a completely different thing compared with driving in regular conditions.” Japanese U-turn on Hong Kong travel restrictions surprises industry He said drivers would need to know how a car’s handling could be affected by the different conditions and that snow from a vehicle’s roof could fall onto the windscreen, impeding visibility. “Put simply, we do not recommend people drive in snowy conditions if they don’t have this experience,” he said. The Immigration Department on Tuesday said it had not yet received a request for help, but it had reached out to the Commissioner’s Office of China’s Foreign Ministry in Hong Kong and the Chinese consulate in Sapporo after learning of the accident. “The Immigration Department will continue to stay in touch with the commissioner’s office and the consulate general. We will closely monitor any developments,” it added.