US Air base in Japan hit by explosion, four people injured

TOKYO: An explosion injured four men at a US air base’s Japanese facility for storing unexploded bombs in Okinawa on Monday, a fire official said. Authorities reported their condition as not critical.

Japan Self-Defense Forces (SDF) members at Kadena Air Base’s facility were wiping rust off items to reassess whether they were bombs, said local fire department official Akira Kamiunten.

During that process, an explosion injured four male SDF members, who emergency responders rushed to the hospital, he told AFP.

Jiji Press and other local media reported that none of the injuries threatened the men’s lives.

A defence ministry spokesman also confirmed that an explosion occurred at Kadena Air Base, located on Okinawa’s main island in the southern region. During World War II, Japan used Okinawa as a buffer to slow down US forces.

More than a quarter of the main island’s civilian population died in the 1945 Battle of Okinawa. The US ended its occupation there in 1972 under a mutual treaty that kept American bases in place.

Today, US bases in Japan occupy 70 percent of Okinawa’s land, and more than half of the 50,000-strong US troop presence is stationed there.