Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012

OSAKA — A fire broke out at an Osaka elementary school Tuesday morning after a string of explosions in a science room, prompting 250 students and teachers to evacuate, but no injuries were reported, police and firefighters said.

No usual lab class: Firetrucks and other emergency vehicles line the street Tuesday outside Kiyoe Elementary School in Suminoe Ward in the city of Osaka following a series of explosions. KYODO

The explosions at 10:45 a.m. gutted almost all of the 30-sq.-meter room at Kiyoe Elementary School in Suminoe Ward before the fire was put out an hour later, the authorities said.

They were trying to identify the cause of the blasts, which prompted the dispatch of some 30 fire engines and a helicopter.

The explosions, in a science lab preparation room on the school's fourth floor, occurred during a break between the second and third periods, the authorities said.

During the second period, fourth-graders had conducted an experiment to boil water on a portable gas stove and let it cool in the lab adjacent to the preparation room. The experiments ended around 10:30 a.m., police and school officials said.

There was no one in the room at the time of the explosions, but it had a range of items fitted with combustible substances, including the portable gas stove and alcohol lamps, they said.

A neighbor said she heard three or four blasts and saw thick dark smoke pouring from the building out into the school grounds.

Explosion in Shizuoka

SHIZUOKA — An explosion rocked an agricultural chemical plant in Fuji, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Tuesday morning, injuring two workers, police said.

The workers, both in their 50s, sustained light injuries in the blast, which almost entirely destroyed a 500-sq.-meter building at the plant operated by Ihara Chemical Industry Co., according to the company.

The explosion occurred as three workers, including the two who were hurt, were putting chemicals into a tank to make an agrochemical product, according to the police. The blast didn't result in a fire or cause damage outside the plant.

Police opened an investigation.

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