An unexploded bomb has gone off at a depot in the southwestern Japanese prefecture of Okinawa, injuring four members of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces.
The facility in a US base has been used for temporary storage of unexploded bombs from World War Two, managed by the Okinawa Prefectural government.
Okinawa police say fire officials informed them of the blast at the facility in Yomitan Village on Monday morning.
Okinawa Prefecture says the depot is in the US military’s Kadena Ammunitions Storage Area, and that the blast was small. The prefecture adds that the facility is used by Japan’s SDF bomb-disposal squad.
The local fire department says the injured SDF personnel include a member in his 40s who suffered burns on the left hand and another in his 20s who was hit by shrapnel in the face. It says the four injured members are not in life-threatening condition.
The fire department also says SDF personnel told it that the blast occurred when they were removing rust on the surface of the bomb to determine its type.
The Defense Ministry says this is the first time that a Self-Defense Force bomb-disposal unit has had a bomb go off, injuring its members. The SDF’s first unit for unexploded bomb disposal was established in 1974.
AloJapan.com