Nippon Paper Pres. Laments Deaths at Quake-Hit Plant

Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Pref., Aug. 5 (Jiji Press)–Nippon Paper Industries Co. President Akira Sebe on Wednesday lamented the deaths of nine people in an accident in which a chimney collapsed at its plant in Kumamoto Prefecture following last week’s major earthquake. “We take it extremely seriously,” Sebe told a news conference in the city of Yatsushiro in the southwestern Japan prefecture. “We express our deepest condolences over those who lost their lives and offer our heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved families.” Company officials told the news conference that shortly after the temblor with a magnitude of 7.1 on July 28, an 80-meter-tall reinforced concrete chimney collapsed at the plant in the city, killing nine people in a nearby two-story office building. In Yatsushiro, the quake registered a seismic intensity of up to upper 6, the second-highest level on the Japanese scale. At the time, there were 414 people in the plant, including employees of partner companies and clients. Eleven people were trapped in the office building, and only two of them were rescued. The company stressed that the chimney, built in 1970, had been approved and met regulatory standards, adding that it was reinforced after the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes. The company plans to set up an investigation committee of relevant experts to determine the cause of the accident. The company said it is not considering closing the plant at the moment. Also on Wednesday, Nippon Paper retracted its earnings forecasts for the year through March 2027, citing the need to assess the impact of the earthquake, including on the plant. For April-June, the company reported a consolidated net loss of 200 million yen, against a profit of 1.9 billion yen a year earlier, due to rising fuel and other costs. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]