Earlier this morning, an explosion occurred where the Prime Minister (PM) of Japan, Fumio Kishida, was about to give a speech.
Source: 岸田文雄 on Facebook
According to reports, the incident occurred at a Saikazaki Fishing Port in Wakayama City, Japan.
The incident has caused shockwaves in the country, especially following the late Shinzo Abe‘s assassination in Nara last year.
Thankfully this time, the Japanese PM escaped unscathed.
NHK World-Japan (NHK) reported that the incident occurred at around 11.30am local time in Japan on Saturday (15 Apr).
The current Japanese PM, Fumio Kishida, had been ready to give a speech at Saikazaki Port in Wakayama City when bystanders heard a loud explosion.
Media who were present at the scene captured the moments when the explosion occurred. The footage was reportedly initially uploaded by @ak2364n on Twitter, though it seems to have been removed at the time of writing. Channel NewsAsia (CNA) managed to capture the clip and posted it on Facebook.
At the start of the video, several men appeared to be pinning someone down.
Source: @ak2364n via CNA on Facebook
Not long after, the building was rocked by a strong explosion — followed by some smoke.
As it turned out, the explosion had happened a small distance away from the initial commotion.
Source: @ak2364n via CNA on Facebook
Subsequently, the group of men hurriedly dragged the individual they were pinning down to a safer location.
According to CNN, the man was the alleged culprit behind the incident while the others holding him down were police officers.
Meanwhile, Kyodo News reported that the police have arrested a 24-year-old male suspect from Hyogo prefecture.
According to the report by NHK, witnesses at the scene saw a man throwing a silver cylindrical object.
Source: @masaaki_tetu on Twitter
Thankfully, the blast did not injure any civilians at the scene.
As for the Japanese PM, law enforcement officials were able to shield and usher him to safety.
Channel News Asia (CNA) reported that PM Kishida was in the city to verbally express his endorsement of a ruling party candidate.
Additionally, he had just finished trying some fish from the port that they were at when the incident happened.
Fortunately, the incident — while shocking — was not fatal.
In a separate report, NHK stated that PM Kishida was back on the campaign trail about an hour after the explosion.
While his earlier speech at the port had been cancelled for his safety, he subsequently spoke at the JR Wakayama railway station.
Meanwhile, local police are still investigating the incident.
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Featured image adapted from CNA on Facebook and @ReutersWorld on Twitter.
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"This incident could have happened anywhere," said a local politician.