A massive shopping mall has collapsed with “many people trapped inside”, according to local news reports.
There was also an explosion at the Aeon Mall Kumamoto in Kashima Town, local fire services said, with reports of injuries and multiple people being transported to hospital.
Around 200 people were said to have taken refuge in the parking lot following the blast, which appears to have taken off the exterior wall of the building, leaving the steel framework exposed.
Footage also shows what appears to be a hole in the partially-collapsed roof of the mall.
A staff member from a store on the second floor told NHK: “There were six employees in the store at the time, but the explosion occurred after everyone had evacuated outside, so none of them were injured.”
The mall covers 224,000 square metres and is home to supermarkets, restaurants, clothing stores, a movie theater, and a hot spring facility.
