Subject: [cwj 33] Four Dead in Japan Chemical Plant Blast
From: Corporate Watch in Japanese <cwj@corpwatch.org>
Date: Sat, 10 Jun 2000 19:24:04 -0700
Seq: 33
Saturday June 10 10:31 AM ET Four Dead in Japan Chemical Plant Blast TOKYO (Reuters) - An explosion ripped through a chemical plant in eastern Japan on Saturday evening, killing four people, injuring 25 and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of nearby residents, fire officials said. The blast, which occurred at 6 p.m., gutted the plant, damaged scores of buildings and broke the windows of nearby shops and cars in the town of Ojima. ``We are currently investigating the cause of the explosion but it damaged several buildings within a 1,000-foot radius of the factory,'' a fire official said. The official said that some four hours after the blast, smoke was still billowing from the facility and 30 emergency vehicles were on the scene. He said the explosion damaged 200 nearby homes and knocked out power. Roads in the area were also closed and residents were being evacuated. The factory, about 70 miles north of Tokyo, is operated by Tokyo-based Nisshin Chemical Co., producing agriculture and pharmaceutical chemicals. In Japan, where zoning laws are far from stringent, it is not unusual to have homes near chemical and industrial plants. The injured in Saturday's blast ranged in age from a six-year-old girl to pensioners in their 80s. ``I heard a tremendous sound and five or six windows were broken at my home. I can still see red flames rising into the air,'' Katsuyuki Kato, an Ojima resident who lives about 0.6 miles from the plant, told Kyodo News. Fire officials said that one person remained missing. FAIR USE NOTICE. This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Corporate Watch in Japanese is making this article available in our efforts to advance understanding of ecological sustainability, human rights, economic democracy and social justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. ------------------------------------- Corporate Watch in Japanese Transnational Resource and Action Center (TRAC) P.O. Box 29344 San Francisco, CA 94129 USA Tel: 1-415-561-6472 Fax: 1-415-561-6493 Email: cwj@corpwatch.org URL: http://www.corpwatch-jp.org ------------------------------------- ______________________ The Corporate Watch in Japanese http://www.corpwatch.org/japan (CWJ) mailing list is a moderated email list in English designed to connect activists campaigning against Japanese corporations and investments around the world. * To unsubscribe from the CWJ mailing list, send an email to majordomo@jca.apc.org with text "unsubscribe cwj". To subscribe to the CWJ mailing list, send a message to majordomo@jca.apc.org with the text "subscribe cwj" * The CWJ mailing list is NOT intended for wide distribution. If you would like to post messages from this list somewhere else, we ask that you first contact us at cwj@corpwatch.org ______________________