Death Toll Rises To 18 As Rescuers Comb Through Quake Rubble In Southwestern Japan

KUMAMOTO, Japan (AP) — Soldiers and emergency workers scoured a badly damaged shopping mall and collapsed homes, searching for trapped survivors. a strong earthquake The incident killed at least 18 people, including a foreigner, in southwestern Japan.

The prefectural government said at least 62 people were injured, six of them seriously, in the 7.1-magnitude earthquake that struck the Kumamoto prefecture on the main southern island of Kyushu a day earlier. The number has been steadily rising, raising fears it could continue to rise.

As rescuers braved the heat, the sweltering weather raised concerns about survivors. It is not yet known how many people may still be missing.

One of the most serious damages occurred at the Aeon Mall shopping mall in the city of Kashima, where thousands of people flocked when the earthquake occurred. The company said about 3,000 customers were evacuated to a parking lot before a gas explosion occurred in another part of the mall where some people were still working.

Citizens were stranded due to the collapse of the second floor of the shopping mall. Eyewitnesses said that the explosion shook the region as much as the earthquake.

According to Aeon President Akio Yoshida, four people have been confirmed dead at the mall, while three people are still missing.

“We take seriously the fact that an explosion occurred and precious lives were lost,” Yoshida said at a press conference in Kumamoto with two other executives.

Japanese media footage of the mall showed part of the ceiling collapsed, scattering metal shards and other debris as helmeted and masked rescuers searched the area.

Kiyoshi Matsunaga, 74, who lives in the neighborhood where the mall is located and was at a supermarket just a few blocks away, said he thought he was going to die.

As he was pushing his car towards the checkout, he stopped dead in his tracks when the shaking started. Items scattered from the shelves. He remembered that he couldn’t move.

“I was scared,” he said.

Five people were killed and seven others were rescued from the rubble when a chimney collapsed at a Nippon Paper Industries factory in nearby Yatsushino, according to the Kumamoto prefecture government’s disaster team.

Four people are believed to be still trapped there, the statement said.

In the first reported death of a foreign national, a Vietnamese technical intern died when a crane fell on him at the factory where he worked, according to the Vietnamese government. He came to Japan in January. Seven more Vietnamese technical trainees at the factory were evacuated safely

Separately, a Vietnamese woman who was married to one of the workers was injured when a wall collapsed and was treated in hospital.

Kumamoto officials said about 34,900 homes were still without power and about 15,000 were without water. More than 8,800 people have fled their homes to stay in more than 400 shelters, where power supplies have been added to provide air conditioning.

Aerial images taken by police showed some houses in residential areas completely flattened, with several of them collapsing into a nearby river.

Japan Self-Defense Forces joined rescue teams in search and rescue operations. Hundreds of professionals, including Taiwanese firefighters, assisted in the effort.

“There are still people waiting to be rescued, and it’s a race against time,” Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said. “We will do our best to find and save as many people as possible.”

Takaichi said the federal government is preparing to deliver food and other needs to areas hardest hit by the crisis. He also expressed his condolences to those who lost their lives in the earthquake and their relatives, and called on those affected by the earthquake to take care of themselves in hot weather.

High-speed train services were stopped. Although operations at Aso Kumamoto Airport resumed on Wednesday, some airlines canceled flights as a precaution.

Kumamoto was hit A deadly earthquake in 2016 It caused the death of at least 50 people. Japan is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world.

Associated Press writers Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo and Aniruddha Ghosal in Hanoi, Vietnam, contributed to this report.