TOKY: At least four people were injured in an explosion and fire at a building in the Shinbashi district of Tokyo’s Minato Ward on Monday afternoon, according to the Metropolitan Police Department and others.

All four, in their 50s to 70s, are conscious, while two of them were sent to hospital, the MPD said.

The fire is believed to have started in a restaurant on the second floor of the building, according to the police, which suspect a possible gas leak.

The four are the restaurant’s manager, an employee, both in their 50s, and two passersby in their 50s and 70s, according to the police.

The manager told investigators that an explosion occurred soon after he lit a lighter in the smoking space of the restaurant while he thought he smelled gas, the police said.

There were no customers in the restaurant when the explosion happened. Other people who were in the building were reported safe.

The building has eight stories above ground and one below, some 300 meters west of JR Shinbashi Station.

JIJI Press