Voor het gemak (en het archief):
TOKIO - De Japanse automaker Mazda is in de nacht van woensdag op donderdag getroffen door een grote brand in een fabriek in Hirosjima. Volgens het Japanse persbureau Kyodo werden 8000 van in totaal 45.000 vierkante meter van de productieplaats in de as gelegd.
Een woordvoerder van Mazda zei dat in totaal duizend personen geëvacueerd moesten worden. De brandweer wist de vlammen relatief snel te bedwingen en niemand raakte gewond. De productie werd grotendeels stilgelegd. Of de brand nog verdere gevolgen heeft voor de aflevering van nieuwe auto's is onduidelijk. De zegsman van Mazda zei dat mogelijk andere vestigingen het verlies aan productiecapaciteit gaan opvangen.
http://www.nu.nl/news.jsp?n=456413&c=32Japanese automaker Mazda Motor Corp. said Thursday it had yet to estimate operational and financial damage from a fire at a major plant in Japan that caused the factory and another nearby operation to close.
"We completely shut down our Ujina 1 factory and Ujina 2, which are two of our main factories," a Mazda spokesman said.
"We do not know when we can resume their operations and how much damage we will see as a result of the fire," he said.
The fire broke out at around 11:00 pm Wednesday in the paint drying furnace of Ujina 1 plant in Hiroshima city, 650 kilometers (400 miles) southwest of Tokyo, before being extinguished after 6:00 am Thursday. The fire was contained in the factory, but Mazda also closed the operation of Ujina 2, which is located right next to the plant, the automaker said. Ujina 1, with an annual production capacity of 268,000 autos, is used to build the RX-8 sports car, the popular compact cars Demio and Verisa as well as MPV minivan.
Ujina 2 mainly builds Demio and has the annual production capacity of 236,000. No one was injured in the blaze. Mazda stock fell 3.1 percent to 315 yen after the news of the fire that halted production at two plants reached the Japanese Market.