Japan Factory Explosion Causes Five Deaths, Many Injuries

Five people died and 12 were injured Thursday in an explosion at a Mitsubishi Materials Corp. plant in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, police said. Mitsubishi Materials said that a heat exchanger outside the plant’s No. 1 facility exploded at around 2:10 p.m. during cleaning work. It is possible that the explosion was caused when a chemical agent inside the heat exchanger was exposed to air, the company said. About 20 people were taking apart and cleaning the equipment at the time of the accident. The victims were involved in the operation, some as supervisors, it said. The explosion did not trigger a fire.