Fatal blast at Mitsubishi Materials factory

Japan, Jan 9 – At least five people have been killed and 12 injured in an explosion at a chemical factory in central Japan.

 

The blast occurred in the afternoon at the plant run by Mitsubishi Materials in Yokkaichi city, Mie prefecture.

 

Maintenance crews were cleaning out a heat exchanger used in the production of silicon products when the blast happened, officials said.

 

It is not clear at this stage what caused the explosion, the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes reports from Japan.

 

The plant manufactures polymers and uses a number of highly-volatile chemicals including hydrogen and chlorine, he adds.

 

Thursday's blast at the plant – based some 350km (220 miles) west of Tokyo – killed five of the maintenance workers on the spot.

 

The number of injured has ranged, in reports, from 12 to 17.

 

Emergency officials said there had been no fire and the situation was quickly contained.

 

Mitsubishi Materials – a division of the huge Mitsubishi Corporation – makes a range of automotive, electronics, and construction and engineering products.

 

BBC