major fire at a rocket launch test site

No injuries were reported following this incident which occurred on Tuesday, November 26 in the isolated department of Kagoshima, in southern Japan.

A major fire broke out on Tuesday, November 26, at a site of the Japanese space agency while it was testing a solid fuel Epsilon S rocket, according to images from public television channel NHK.

Fireballs and white smoke rose around 8:30 a.m. local time (12:30 a.m. in Paris) from the Tanegashima space center, according to these images.

A combustion test

Contacted by Agence France Presse, officials from the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) could not immediately be reached.

According to NHK, the fire occurred during a test burn, attended by media stationed about 600 meters away.

About 30 seconds into the test, a loud explosion was heard, and what appeared to be a burning object flew toward the sea, NHK reported. The Sankei newspaper reported that orange flames gushed from the rocket engine placed on a horizontal platform before the explosion.