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Electrical system glitch suspected as cause of Shuri Castle fire

This aerial picture shows the Shuri Castle after a fire ripped through the historic site in Naha, Okinawa prefecture, southern Japan on October 31, 2019. (AFP file)
This aerial picture shows the Shuri Castle after a fire ripped through the historic site in Naha, Okinawa prefecture, southern Japan on October 31, 2019. (AFP file)
08 Nov 2019 03:11:37 GMT9
08 Nov 2019 03:11:37 GMT9

Naha, Okinawa Pref.,

The fire department of Naha increasingly suspects that an electrical system glitch caused the fire that severely damaged Shuri Castle in the capital of the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa a week ago.

At a press conference on Thursday, the municipal fire department said melt marks have been found in more than several dozen sections of wires connected to a power distribution board on the northern side of the castle's Seiden main hall, where the fire is believed to have started.

The fire department is looking at the possibility that the melt marks were the result of a short circuit.

While fire and police authorities are gradually figuring out the extent of damage from the fire, reconstruction of the celebrated castle remains nowhere in sight.

The fire burned down seven buildings at Shuri Castle, including Seiden, which were rebuilt in 1992 at the total cost of some 7.3 billion yen, and destroyed some 400 stored items including art works.

The fire broke out in the small hours of Oct. 31. A security staff member rushed to the scene following an alarm, opened the shutter of the northern side of Seiden, went up some stairs and found smoke was filling the building.

The security official returned to the scene after calling for help and found smoke blowing through a window on the northeastern side of the first floor of Seiden. By that time, the fire was out of control.

According to sources including the Okinawa prefectural government, there had been no problems such as electricity leakage before.

Meanwhile, the Okinawa Churashima Foundation, which manages Shuri Castle, corrected its initial explanation, given last Friday, the day after the fire, that security staff patrolled inside Seiden about an hour before the fire. It later said that security staff only checked Seiden from the Hoshinmon gate in front of the hall at the time and that a patrol inside Seiden was conducted five hours before the fire.

The foundation will examine whether there were any flaws in its Shuri Castle management system.

Remains under Seiden may have been partly damaged by debris that flew into the area through broken glass walls for visitors.

But most of the remains, registered as part of a UNESCO World Heritage site, were found covered with soil and are therefore believed to have escaped damage from the fire.

According to the foundation, some 1,100 cultural items stored at the castle, including a painting and two other works designated as important cultural properties by the prefecture, have been found safe.

But some 400 items, including a painting from the Ryukyu kingdom era, were likely destroyed by fire.

Seiden was completed in 1992, some eight years after a reconstruction project began.

According to the Cabinet Office, it is hard to draw up a schedule or estimate costs for reconstruction of the castle, partly because the same type of Japanese cypress used for some 100 pillars for the main hall is difficult to procure and delicate work by craftsmen is also needed.

Jiji Press

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