Explosion injures construction worker at Okinawa battle site
A construction crew in Okinawa accidentally set off what is believed to have been a World War 2 era landmine:
Jun Kohagura, 25, was working on an underground water pipe on the subtropical island when the bomb went off, seriously injuring him in the face.
“He was brought to hospital where he remains conscious. But his condition is not good as his injuries are so terrible that a piece of his flesh was found on the ground at the scene,” fire department official Atsushi Kakazu said.
The explosion was strong enough to shatter the glass of a nearby nursing home in the city of Itowan. A 72-year-old man was lightly injured but did not need hospital care, the fire department said.
The incident took place on the southern tip of the island, an area where some of the fiercest fighting took place during the Battle of Okinawa. News reports say the explosion was particularly close to the Himeyuri Peace Museum.
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