TOKYO: A man was arrested after stabbing eight people and injuring seven others with what was believed to be bleach at a rubber factory in central Japan on Friday (Dec 26), officials said.
Eight people were taken to hospitals after being stabbed by the man with a knife at the Yokohama Rubber Company in the city of Mishima, in the Shizuoka prefecture, west of Tokyo, according to the Fujisan Nanto Fire Department.
The department told The Associated Press that five of the people who were stabbed were in serious condition.
A call was received at about 4.30pm local time from a nearby rubber factory saying “five or six people were stabbed by someone” and that a “spray-like liquid” had also been used, Tomoharu Sugiyama, a firefighting department official, told AFP.
Shizuoka prefectural police said the attacker, a 38-year-old man, was arrested for alleged attempted murder at the factory, but did not give further details.
The Asahi Shimbun daily quoted investigative sources as saying that the man was someone connected to the factory.
He was wearing what appeared to be a gas mask, the newspaper and other media said.
Asahi also said that he was apparently armed with what it described as a survival knife.
Japanese news site NHK said all victims remained conscious.
The factory in Mishima is run by Yokohama Rubber Co, whose business includes manufacturing tyres for trucks and buses, according to its corporate website.
Violent crime is relatively rare in Japan, which has a low murder rate and some of the world’s toughest gun laws.
However, there are occasional stabbing attacks and even shootings, including the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2022.
A Japanese man was sentenced to death in October for a shooting and stabbing rampage that killed four people, including two police officers, in 2023.
A 43-year-old man was also charged with attempted murder in May over a knife attack at Tokyo’s Toda-mae metro station.
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