15 injured after stabbing, liquid spray attack in Japan

Fifteen people were injured in a stabbing attack in a factory in central Japan during which an unspecified liquid was also sprayed, an emergency services official said on Dec 26.

“All 15 people were sent to hospital,” a firefighting department official in the city of Mishima, south-west of Tokyo, said.

The official, declining to be named, said that of the 15 injuries, eight were the result of stabbing and seven due to the liquid.

Some local media outlets, quoting unnamed sources, said the liquid appeared to be bleach.

Five of the victims were classified as “requiring emergency care” by emergency workers at the scene, but all have remained conscious, the official said.

Mr Tomoharu Sugiyama, another official from the firefighting department, said a call was received at about 4.30pm from a nearby rubber factory saying “people were stabbed by someone”, and that a “spray-like liquid” had also been used.

Japanese media, including public broadcaster NHK, reported that police had arrested Masaki Oyama, 38, on suspicion of attempted murder.

The Asahi Shimbun daily quoted investigative sources as saying Oyama was someone connected to the factory.

He was wearing what appeared to be a gas mask, the newspaper and other media said.

Asahi also said he was apparently armed with what it described as a survival knife.

The seriousness of the injuries was unknown, although NHK said all victims remained conscious.

Mr Sugiyama said at least six of the 14 victims had been taken to hospital in a fleet of ambulances. The exact nature of the injuries was also unclear.

A fleet of ambulances was dispatched to the Yokohama Rubber factory, which according to its website makes tyres for trucks and buses.

NHK aerial footage showed emergency workers and vehicles including fire trucks parked outside the factory.

History of violent crime
Violent crime is relatively rare in Japan, which has a low murder rate and some of the world’s toughest gun laws.

However, there are occasional stabbing attacks and even shootings, including the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe in 2022.

A Japanese man was sentenced to death in October for a shooting and stabbing rampage that killed four people, including two police officers, in 2023.

A 43-year-old man was also charged with attempted murder in May over a knife attack at Tokyo’s Toda-mae metro station.

Japan remains shaken by the memory of a major subway attack in 1995 when members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult released sarin gas on trains, killing 14 people and making more than 5,800 ill.

On March 20, 1995, five members of the Aum cult dropped bags of Nazi-developed sarin nerve agent inside morning commuter trains, piercing the pouches with sharpened umbrella tips before fleeing. 

Source: AFP

--Agencies