Hope dwindles for rescue in southwestern Japan quake as death toll climbs to 23

The Kumamoto prefectural government says the powerful earthquake that hit southwestern Japan earlier this week has now killed at least 23 people

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The powerful earthquake that set off an explosion at a mall, toppled a factory chimney and flattened homes in southwestern Japan earlier this week has killed at least 23 people, the Kumamoto prefectural government said Thursday.

Time was running out for finding survivors as rescuers continued to work in the Kumamoto area on Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu, where the magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Tuesday.

The total number of those missing was unclear. The quake left at least 63 people injured, five of them seriously, the prefectural government said.

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