HIROSHIMA -- Forty bolts anchoring a pylon for high-tension lines to a concrete base in Midori, Hiroshima Prefecture, were found to have been mysteriously removed in 1994 and 1995, the Chugoku Electric Power Co. announced March 9. Removed bolts led to a similar tower to fall last month in Kagawa Prefecture.
Police are trying to determine why the bolts were removed, while the electric utility is strengthening inspections of its pylons in the Chugoku region.
The 36-meter tower holds wires conveying about 220,000 volts of electricity, company officials said.
In October 1994, company inspectors found that more than 10 bolts had been removed from the base of the tower, which is not enclosed by a fence, they said.
In April 1995, company officials found that some 20 additional bolts had been removed.
The company reported those incidents to police. No motives have been determined, they said.
In February, a similar incident led to the toppling of a steel high-tension line pylon in Sakaide, Kagawa Prefecture.