TOKYO, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Five people died in an explosion at a Mitsubishi Materials Corp chemicals plant in western Japan on Thursday, national broadcaster NHK reported, citing local police.
An official at the local fire department, in Yokkaichi, could not immediately confirm the deaths but told Reuters that 17 people had sustained injuries, five of them serious.
No other details were immediately available. An official at Mitsubishi Materials said the company was still gathering information.
The fire has been extinguished, the fire department official said. (Reporting by Nobuhiro Kubo; Writing by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
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