Four Japanese soldiers sustained non-life-threatening injuries following an explosion at a storage facility for unexploded wartime ordnance on a US military base in Okinawa, local authorities confirmed on Monday.
The incident occurred as the soldiers were working at a site managed by Okinawa prefecture to store old ordnance discovered across the island — the site of one of the fiercest battles of World War II.
According to officials, the servicemen suffered injuries to their fingers during the blast. No further information regarding the nature of the explosion or the condition of the facility was immediately available.
Japan’s Self-Defence Forces said they were investigating the explosion, which reportedly happened at or near Kadena Air Base.
A unit specialising in the disposal of unexploded bombs had been operating in the area at the time.
The SDF added that efforts were under way to determine both the cause and precise location of the incident.
Large quantities of unexploded ordnance remain buried across Japan, especially in Okinawa, where intense US bombing took place during the final months of WWII.
These remnants are frequently discovered during construction or excavation works.
Last October, a wartime US bomb detonated at a commercial airport in southern Japan, creating a substantial crater and forcing the cancellation of dozens of flights.
