Woman suffers burns after aluminium can explodes at Shinjuku Station

Police were called to the scene early this morning.

A woman was taken to hospital today with burns to her legs after a can exploded on a platform at Shinjuku Station in Tokyo. Tokyo Metropolitan Police are currently investigating the incident as a possible case of assault.

According to the police department, a woman in her 20s was walking up the stairs from platform 14 at approximately 5:30 a.m. this morning when a bottle-shaped aluminium vessel suddenly burst, spraying out a foam liquid that came into contact with her legs. The liquid caused slight burns to the lower part of her legs and she was immediately transported to hospital.

Police were first called to the scene by a station attendant, who reported that “a can had exploded on the platform”. When officers arrived, they discovered that an unlabelled 500-millilitre can had burst, spraying out a liquid that seemed to contain powdery pieces when the cap flew off the vessel. The bottle-shaped aluminium can displayed no other visible punctures or cracks.

明け方の新宿駅ホームで不明の缶が破裂して女性怪我！ 利用するみなさん、用心して(>_<) https://t.co/ms6rgSJbDB

—
y.yuki (@goround1986) August 26, 2018

An eyewitness at the scene said there was a loud bang when the can exploded and that there were few people on the platform at the time. This photo shows that the liquid appeared to leave a powdery white mark at the site of the explosion.

目の前で何かが爆発した https://t.co/7zlov7kAIN

—
おきし (@Os3309x) August 25, 2018

Photos taken shortly after the incident show that the area had been cordoned off, with investigators in Hazmat suits collecting evidence at the scene.

新宿駅、なんか物々しいよ。キープアウトのライン張られてる。 https://t.co/gjb4TP94UF

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かりんとう@はるみ推し🦔 (@karinto_ver2017) August 25, 2018

Police are currently testing the can and its contents to determine what type of liquid was inside the aluminium container. They are also examining surveillance camera footage in an attempt to identify the individual responsible for leaving the can on the platform and to determine whether this might be an assault case.

Having occurred on the platform, the incident caused no delays to train schedules. Shinjuku Station is known to be the busiest train station in the world, with approximately 778,000 commuters using the station daily.

Source: NHK
Featured image: Twitter/@karinto_ver2017

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