Scores hurt in Japan restaurant blast

Searching for clues: Firefighters and police working at the scene in Sapporo. — AP

Tokyo: A powerful blast that ripped through a restaurant in northern Japan injured 42 people and caused serious damage to neighbouring buildings, forcing some residents into shelters, officials said.

The explosion in Sapporo on Sunday night started fires and caused the partial collapse of some surrounding buildings.

Images from the scene showed large flames and plumes of smoke rising in the night air, and witnesses described hearing a terrifying boom.

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 said that despite the large number of injuries, there had been no fatalities.

The Jiji Press agency said one of those 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.

“I heard a ‘bang,’ which sounded like thunder, and my condo was shaken,” a man in his 50s told The Japan Times.

“There was an enormous sound, ‘bang’, then when I looked up at the sky it was filled with plumes of smoke,” an elderly woman said in footage on public broadcaster NHK.

The two-storey wooden building that housed the restaurant, a real estate agency and a clinic was seriously damaged, said a Sapporo fire department official.

The fire from the blast spread to neighbouring buildings, and debris blasted out by the explosion shattered the windows of nearby apartments and restaurants, according to local reports.

“We are investigating details about the damage together with police at the scene,” the official said.

National broadcaster NHK said it took firefighters several hours to extinguish the flames, with dozens of vehicles mobilised to deal with the accident.

A 26-year-old female employee at the restaurant jumped from the first floor and broke her leg as she tried to escape the fire, media reports said.

“I’m just relieved that she is alive,” said her sister.

The blast happened around 8.30pm local time, and the city government opened a shelter to house dozens of people whose homes were damaged.

“The number of evacuees grew to about 60 people around midnight, but now there are 10 people still in the evacuation centre,” said Sapporo official Yasuhiro Ishizuka. — AFP