Large fire erupts at Japanese rocket test site

A major fire erupted Tuesday at a Japan space agency site as it tested a solid-fuel Epsilon S rocket, television footage showed. 

There were no reports of any injuries in the incident in the remote Kagoshima region of southern Japan. 

Towering balls of fire and white fumes rose from the Tanegashima Space Center, according to the footage from national broadcaster NHK.

NHK says the fire happened during a combustion test that began at around 8:30 a.m., with media stationed around 600 meters away. 

About 30 seconds later, a large explosion was heard, and what appeared to be something on fire flew toward the sea, NHK said.  

The Sankei Shimbun reported that orange flames burst out from the rocket engine placed on a horizontal platform before the explosion.