Japan has concluded that a poison gas accident in Guangzhou City
in southern China earlier this month was caused by chemical weapons
abandoned by the Japanese military at the end of World War II, the
Foreign Ministry said Sunday night.??
Poison gas experts and government officials sent from Japan in
response to a Chinese request inspected the site earlier Sunday,
ministry officials said.
On Thursday, the Foreign Ministry notified the Japanese embassy
in Beijing that three people inhaled poison gas leaked from
abandoned shells when they removed sand on a river bank in
Guangzhou on Tuesday.
Noting that the three received treatment at hospital, the
Foreign Ministry said the accident must have been caused by
abandoned Japanese chemical weapons, according to the Japanese
Foreign Ministry.
In August 2003, poison gas leaked from chemical weapons that
were dug up at a construction site in Qiqihar City in Heilongjiang
Province, killing one local resident and injuring 43 others. The
weapons were discarded by the former Imperial Japanese Army.
Japan plans to build two weapons-disposal facilities in
Harbaling, Jilin Province, where most of an estimated 700,000
artillery shells abandoned by Japan are believed to be buried.
(Chinadaily.com.cn via agencies, June 27, 2005)