Death toll in Japan quake rises to 18 as rescuers comb through rubble

Soldiers and emergency workers combed through a badly damaged shopping centre and collapsed houses looking for trapped survivors on Wednesday after a powerful earthquake that killed at least 18 people in southwestern Japan.

The magnitude 7.1 earthquake that hit a day earlier in the Kumamoto area on the southern main island of Kyushu, also left at least 62 people injured, six of them seriously, the prefectural government said. The tally has been steadily growing, fanning fears it may continue to rise.

The sweltering weather heightened worries about the survivors as rescuers braved the heat. It remained unclear how many people might still be missing.

Some of the most serious damage was at the Aeon Mall shopping centre in Kashima city, which was bustling with thousands of people when the quake happened. The company said some 3,000 customers were evacuated to a car park before a gas explosion happened in another part of the mall, where some people were still working.

The mall’s second floor collapsed, trapping people. Witnesses said the explosion shook the area as much as the quake did.