A gas cylinder found in the ground after an explosion last week at a construction site in Tokyo’s Edogawa Ward, which left 10 people slightly injured, was engraved with numbers indicating that it had passed an inspection about 60 years ago.
With the site said to have been a paved parking lot for about 40 years, an expert says that the gas cylinder “may have been illegally dumped a long time ago.”
The explosion occurred around 9:30 a.m. last Tuesday. Acetylene gas, used for welding and cutting metals, leaked from the ground and ignited when a pipe was driven in to reinforce the ground for the construction of new housing. Ten people, including workers and local residents, sustained minor injuries, and walls were damaged on 38 buildings within a 120-meter radius.
AloJapan.com