Seraphim
09-16-2003, 04:13 AM
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030916/ap_on_re_as/japan_hostage_crisis&cid=516&ncid=716
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20030916/capt.1063695912.japan_hostage_crisis_xks101.jpg
Rescue workers carry a stretcher as a fire fighter on a ladder clings on to a still smoldering office building following a blast on the fourth floor in Nagoya, central Japan, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2003. The windows were blown off after a man reportedly involved in a pay dispute set off an explosion that killed himself, a hostage and a police officer . (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
By GARY SCHAEFER, Associated Press Writer
TOKYO - A man reportedly involved in a pay dispute set off an explosion Tuesday that killed himself, a hostage and a police officer in an office building in western Japan.
AP Photo
Seventeen people were injured in the blast, said Takehisa Maeda, an official with the Nagoya Fire Department.
The blast blew out the windows and started a fire that burned for more than an hour.
Witnesses described bystanders bleeding from glass shards that rained down from the fourth story of the building in the city of Nagoya. Black smoke poured from a row of shattered windows, and fire officials said the flames had not been completely extinguished an hour later.
Among the injured were police officers who ringed the building during a three-hour standoff, police and fire officials in Nagoya said. The hostage taker was believed to be a 52-year-old man.
Japanese media said he threatened to set off the blast if he saw police try to come inside.
"The blinds were sucked in and the entire floor just turned red," said a Koji Hirano, a banker who was walking by. "Glass was raining down everywhere."
The casualty toll might have been higher, but the hostage taker released seven hostages before the blast, said Makoto Furuta, a local police spokesman.
The man was armed with a knife and burst into a transportation company on the fourth floor of the building. He spread some sort of fluid that people evacuating the building said smelled like gasoline.
Media reports said the hostage taker was seeking back pay from the company, but Furuta was unable to confirm those reports.
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20030916/capt.1063695912.japan_hostage_crisis_xks101.jpg
Rescue workers carry a stretcher as a fire fighter on a ladder clings on to a still smoldering office building following a blast on the fourth floor in Nagoya, central Japan, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2003. The windows were blown off after a man reportedly involved in a pay dispute set off an explosion that killed himself, a hostage and a police officer . (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
By GARY SCHAEFER, Associated Press Writer
TOKYO - A man reportedly involved in a pay dispute set off an explosion Tuesday that killed himself, a hostage and a police officer in an office building in western Japan.
AP Photo
Seventeen people were injured in the blast, said Takehisa Maeda, an official with the Nagoya Fire Department.
The blast blew out the windows and started a fire that burned for more than an hour.
Witnesses described bystanders bleeding from glass shards that rained down from the fourth story of the building in the city of Nagoya. Black smoke poured from a row of shattered windows, and fire officials said the flames had not been completely extinguished an hour later.
Among the injured were police officers who ringed the building during a three-hour standoff, police and fire officials in Nagoya said. The hostage taker was believed to be a 52-year-old man.
Japanese media said he threatened to set off the blast if he saw police try to come inside.
"The blinds were sucked in and the entire floor just turned red," said a Koji Hirano, a banker who was walking by. "Glass was raining down everywhere."
The casualty toll might have been higher, but the hostage taker released seven hostages before the blast, said Makoto Furuta, a local police spokesman.
The man was armed with a knife and burst into a transportation company on the fourth floor of the building. He spread some sort of fluid that people evacuating the building said smelled like gasoline.
Media reports said the hostage taker was seeking back pay from the company, but Furuta was unable to confirm those reports.