29 Mar 2024
Monday 24 August 2015 - 10:20
Story Code : 177311

Explosion rocks US military facility in Japan

An explosion rips througha USmilitary facility in the Japanese city of Sagamihara in the north-centralKanagawa Prefecture near Tokyo, the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) reports.

Photos and video footage released online on Sunday apparentlyshowseveral explosions at Sagami General Depot, a US baseused for the storage of fuel and munitions.

I was asleep, and at first thought it might have been the roar of thunder, but then there was a sequence of explosions for 10, maybe 15 minutes. A pillar of orange rose to the skies, and the air was filled with the smell of gunpowder,NHK quoted aneyewitness as saying.

The national broadcaster NHK quoted thefire department of Sagamihara as saying thatthe explosionstook placeshortly before 1:00 am Monday local time.

American military authorities reacted to reports of the blast and the ensuing fire on early Monday.

There are no reports of injury, and base firefighters and first responders are currently fighting the resulting fire to prevent its spread to nearby buildings," said US Navy Commander Bill Urban.

Urban noted that the depot did not store ammunition or radiological material and that, we are in the process of determining the exact contents of the building."

According to AFP, Japanese fighters are still waiting for US information on the warehouses contents before tackling the fire.
"We are coordinating with US fire units and we are waiting for people who know exactly what is inside to tell us what's inside," said a duty officer at the Sagahimara fire bureau."We have not poured water (on the warehouse) because it could make the situation worse, depending on what is inside."
 

More than ten fire trucks have beendeployedto the site of the fire.

Japans Asahi said that no general evacuation of nearby areas had been called.

Surrounded by urban area, the site houses the 35th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, as well as logistical and medical departments for the USmilitary in the region.

In recent years, the underused base has been the subject of negotiations.

Back in April, three explosions blamed on anextremist group were reported in the vicinity of the base.

By Press TV
https://theiranproject.com/vdcjvaevvuqeatz.92fu.html
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