5 days ago
Blast in Tokyo residential area may have been from abandoned gas cylinder
Police in Tokyo are investigating an explosion in a residential area that injured 10 people and damaged nearly 40 buildings.
The blast occurred on Tuesday morning at a housing construction site in Edogawa Ward. A construction vehicle was badly burned, and 38 homes and stores incurred damage to walls and windows.
Tokyo police say 10 people, including construction workers and residents, complained of throat and ear pain, but their injuries were minor.
Police and firefighters suspect a buried cylinder containing highly flammable acetylene gas was damaged, and that leaked gas was ignited.
The site is said to have been a parking lot. Workers were trying to drive piles into the ground there to build a home.
The cylinder was reportedly buried at a depth of about 60 centimeters.
Toya Akihiro, an official from an association of businesses that handle high-pressure gas containers, says acetylene gas burns at temperatures over 3,000 degrees Celsius, and is used to weld or cut metals.
He says several buried acetylene gas cylinders are found in any given year in Tokyo Prefecture alone, and his group receives inquiries about disposal from construction companies and others.
Gas cylinders must be properly disposed of in accordance with a law on high-pressure gas safety.
Toya said whoever uses such cylinders should take them away or return them if they are rented.
He added that although he does not know why the cylinder at the Edogawa site was left, it may be assumed that a firm abandoned it there because it was no longer needed, or its disposal was too troublesome.
Toya offered assurance that there is a low risk of buried acetylene gas cylinders exploding unless they are subject to extraordinary conditions, such as a huge shock.
He said his group has never experienced a blast during a recovery or disposal process, or found cylinders more likely to explode because they had gotten old.
