LP Gas Blamed for Shopping Facility Blast after Quake

Tokyo, Aug. 6 (Jiji Press)–Liquefied petroleum gas has been cited as the probable cause of the deadly explosion that occurred at a shopping facility shortly after last week’s powerful earthquake in the southwestern Japan prefecture of Kumamoto. The industry ministry said Wednesday that it shared the view with police and fire authorities that LP gas is highly likely to have caused the explosion at the Aeon Mall Kumamoto facility in the town of Kashima in the prefecture. The blast, which happened about an hour and a half after the earthquake struck the prefecture on the afternoon of July 28, killed seven workers at the shopping facility. Fukuoka Oxygen Co., which had supplied LP gas to Aeon Mall Kumamoto, submitted on Wednesday a report on the explosion to the ministry’s Kyushu Industrial Safety and Inspection Department through the Kumamoto prefectural government under the high pressure gas safety law. The company, based in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, a Kumamoto neighbor, operates in the Kyushu southwestern region, including Kumamoto and Fukuoka, and Yamaguchi Prefecture, near Kyushu. According to the report, LP gas piping in the facility building was damaged by some factor due to the earthquake, which measured up to 7, the highest level on Japan’s seismic intensity scale, and gas leaked and accumulated as a result and caught fire. Fukuoka Oxygen said that details are under investigation. The LP gas was supplied to the facility mainly for the use of cooking equipment. The ministry will look into whether the gas distribution equipment met the required standards. The ministry inspected the Aeon Mall Kumamoto building with police and fire authorities on Monday and Tuesday. Interviews with people related to the facility were also conducted. To prevent a recurrence, the ministry called on businesses that supply LP gas to large-scale facilities nationwide, such as shopping malls and schools, to conduct inspections of their equipment. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]