TOKYO (AP) — Authorities ended Saturday a massive dayslong search-and-rescue operation at a collapsed shopping mall in southwest Japan following a powerful earthquake that killed 34 people earlier this week.The magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Kumamoto on Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu on Tuesday. The Aeon Mall, in the town of Kashima, was one of the hardest-hit sites, after an explosion that followed the quake caused the walls and a floor to crumple. The explosion, which the company said was believed to be due to a gas leak, occurred after about 3,000 shoppers had been evacuated to a parking lot following the quake, but some employees remained inside. The mall’s second floor collapsed. Rescuers extracted five people from under mall debris and retrieved the bodies of seven others over the past five days. On Saturday, officials said all missing were accounted for and ended the operation at the Aeon Mall.
The overall number of missing in the hit prefecture remains unknown, and search operations pressed on, with thousands of Self Defense troops, police, rescue workers and sniffing dogs deployed. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, at a government task force meeting Saturday, urged rescue personnel not to leave anyone behind.
