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Powerful blast at Japan restaurant injures 42
TOKYO, Japan, Dec 17, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A powerful blast ripped through a
restaurant in northern Japan late Sunday, injuring 42 people, starting fires
that took hours to bring under control and leading several neighbouring
buildings to collapse, officials and reports said.
Images from the scene showed large flames and plumes of smoke rising in the
night air after the blast in the northern city of Sapporo.
The cause of the blast was still under investigation, police said. One
witness reportedly said he had smelled gas after the explosion.
A police official for the Hokkaido region told AFP “there are 42 injuries”
but no one was killed.
The Jiji Press agency said one of the injured was seriously hurt, suffering
burns to his face, but none of the victims had life-threatening wounds.
Several children were reportedly among those hurt in the explosion, which
hit in the city’s Toyohira district.
“I heard a ‘bang,’ which sounded like thunder, and my condo was shaken,” a
man in his 50s who lived nearby told The Japan Times.
The building that housed the restaurant was heavily damaged, as were other
nearby businesses, including a real estate company, Jiji said.
National broadcaster NHK said it took firefighters several hours to
extinguish the flames, with dozens of vehicles mobilised to deal with the
accident.
Police had initially warned of the possibility of secondary explosions,
according to Kyodo, which described buildings collapsing following the
incident around 8.30 pm (1130 GMT).
The city government had opened at shelter to house dozens of people whose
homes were damaged in the blast.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0814 hrs