Explosion in Japan: Gas leak from spray cans suspected

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An explosion in the northern Japanese city of Sapporo, that left 42 people injured, may have been caused by gas leaking from over 100 deodorizer spray cans, intended for disposal, at a real estate agency, police said.

According to Japanese newspaper Mainichi Japan, an employee at the real estate agency was quoted by people close to an investigation into the case as saying that "the explosion occurred after bacteria- and odor-eliminating gas was removed from over 100 spray cans."

This has led Hokkaido Prefectural Police to suspect that the gas caught fire, triggering the blast, Mainichi Japan reported.

The explosion occurred at around 8:30 p.m. local time on Sunday, triggering a fire that took six hours for the firefighters to extinguish.

Local authorities said the wooden building which housed the agency along with a Japanese-style pub and an adjacent clinic, collapsed in the blast.

Firefighters try to put out the fire after an explosion in Sapporo, northern Japan, December 16, 2018. /VCG Photo

A man suffered burns to his face but his life was not in danger, the police said. Forty-one others were treated for injuries.

Two months ago, fire inspectors found that most of the building's tenants lacked evacuation gear as well as devices to warn of electrical short circuits, Kyodo news agency reported.

(Top image: Site of the suspected gas explosion through a shattered window of a clinic in Sapporo, northern Japan, December 17, 2018. /VCG Photo)