One people was killed and four other were injured in an explosion which broke out in a ship-building factory in Japan Tuesday, local police reported.

The blast occurred in a large ship which is under construction in Kudamatsu City, Yamaguchi Prefecture of Japan. One worker was killed on the spot and the other four have been sent to a local hospital.

Police are investigating how the explosion started.

According local media reports, 14 people suffered minor injuries in a blast in July 2007 in the same ship-building factory.

(Xinhua News Agency November 25, 2008)