A mishap occurred during the fireworks festival held in Yokohama’s Minato Mirai district on the evening of the 4th in Japan, where a ship used to launch fireworks on the sea suddenly caught fire. Five staff members jumped into the sea to escape, with one sustaining minor injuries. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
According to reports from multiple Japanese media outlets, police received successive reports before 8 p.m. on the 4th, informing them that a “ship launching fireworks caught fire” at the venue of the “Yokohama Port Area Future Smart Fireworks Festival.”
Following the incident, the organizers announced the suspension of the event. Around 8 p.m. on the 4th, although the 25-minute fireworks festival was called off, fireworks could still be seen rising for several hours beyond the scheduled end time. Tens of thousands of people attended the event, and the atmosphere at the venue became tense due to the accident.
According to footage taken by NHK at 8:30 p.m. on the 4th, the fireworks launch ship can be seen on fire, igniting some fireworks and causing occasional explosions on site.
Police and the Coast Guard said eight vessels were used during the event, two of which caught fire. Of the ships that caught fire, five workers onboard one of them jumped into the sea to escape and were all rescued.
The fire department stated that among the five people who jumped into the sea to escape, one suffered minor injuries and was sent to the hospital; no one was aboard the other burning vessel.
According to the police investigation, the organizer explained that “the fireworks launching machine lost control at the time.” Police and the Coast Guard (Japan’s maritime security agency) will clarify the details and cause of the incident.
The Yokohama Coast Guard explained that footage of the fire at the time confirmed fireworks flying horizontally, possibly because a fireworks tube toppled and affected the surrounding vessels. After confirming that the fire was under control around 7:30 a.m. on the 5th, the Coast Guard began firefighting operations on the burning ships.