Tokyo, Oct. 26 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government takes seriously a massive grassland fire that broke out earlier this month in a nature reserve in Mongolia, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said Monday. “We take the extent of the damage seriously. We’d like to express our heartfelt sympathy to the people of Mongolia,” Kihara told a press conference. The fire erupted while a convoy of vehicles carrying Japanese executives and other officials of Mobicom Corp., a unit of Japanese telecommunications carrier KDDI Corp., was traveling through the protected area in the eastern Mongolian province of Dornod. Noting that Mongolian authorities are investigating the cause of the fire, Kihara said that the Japanese government will “cooperate to restore the affected areas.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
