Room in the apartment where the explosion occurred = Namiki 2, Kawaguchi City
At about 8:25 pm on the 18th, a woman who lives in a 15-story apartment building near JR Nishi-Kawaguchi Station in Namiki 2, Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture, called 110 saying, “I heard an explosion and was the broken windows.” The explosion completely destroyed a room on the third floor, and a 44-year-old Chinese man who lived in the room was taken to hospital with burns all over his body. According to investigators, he was conscious at the time of transport, and was arrested by prefectural police on suspicion of assaulting a police officer and obstructing official duties. In a later interview at the Kawaguchi Police Station, he said, “I filled the room with gas in an attempt to commit suicide, but when I came to my senses and smoked a cigarette, it exploded.”
According to police, at least six people were injured, including the man, but the other five only had minor injuries. He was apparently the only man in the room at the time of the explosion.
As a result, the local JR Keihin Tohoku Line train (10-car train) running between Kawaguchi and Nishi-Kawaguchi stations was stopped. Trains on the same line, the Utsunomiya Line, the Takasaki Line, and the nearby Shonan-Shinjuku Line were also temporarily suspended, resulting in 24 trains being delayed by up to 25 minutes in total, affecting about 20,000 people.
The site is about 150 meters southeast of Nishi-Kawaguchi Station, in a residential area with apartments. A man in his 50s who lives in a nearby apartment building said, “At the time, I was drying laundry on the balcony. The house shook and I thought lightning had struck. I used the station for commuting, so I didn’t use the station. You’d think it was a one-time incident.” (Yusaku Adachi)
A restaurant whose windows were broken by the explosion
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