A group of 72 former tunnel workers and family members of workers who have died joined about 180 others from two other groups Wednesday to demand a total of 2.3 billion yen in damages from their employers for a work-related lung disease.

In suits filed with district courts in Niigata, Maebashi, Nagano, Hiroshima and Kagoshima, the plaintiffs are seeking 33 million yen in damages for each plaintiff from 58 construction companies. The tunnel workers claim the companies failed to take adequate measures to protect them from exposure to particles thrown up during tunnel construction that cause "black lung" disease.

The disease, also called pneumoconiosis, results in coughing and breathing difficulties and increases the risk of contracting tuberculosis and lung cancer. Inhalation of coal dust and other particles is blamed for the disease. Tunnel workers account for about one-third of the more than 1,000 new black lung disease patients recognized each year in Japan.

Some 180 former tunnel workers and family members of those who have already died filed similar suits earlier this year. A number of similar suits have been filed since the late 1970s.

In late October, the Hakodate District Court proposed a compromise aimed at settling a 1.5 billion yen suit filed by former tunnel construction workers suffering from black lung disease. The compromise calls on Japan Railway Construction Public Corp. and 39 construction companies to pay up to 21 million yen to each plaintiff to compensate for them contracting black lung disease.

According to the Labor Ministry, about 18,600 workers were recognized in 1996 as having a serious case of black lung disease. In fiscal 1996, the ministry recognized 1,502 people as having newly contracted work-related black lung disease, 564 of whom were workers mainly involved in tunnel construction.