Tokyo, July 29 -- Two women have died, and one woman was found unresponsive, following an explosion that rocked Aeon Mall Kumamoto in Kashima town on the southwestern main island of Kyushu hours after a powerful magnitude-7.1 earthquake struck Japan.

Government sources told Kyodo News that a gas leak is suspected as the cause of the blast. The prefectural government initially reported that ten people were unaccounted for at the site.

Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi stated that approximately 3,600 Self-Defense Forces personnel were mobilised across the disaster-hit area to engage in rescue operations alongside emergency crews, Kyodo News reported.

According to the mall's operator, Aeon Co., the explosion occurred after employees and c...