{"id":179195,"date":"2026-08-18T14:09:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T05:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?post_type=news&#038;p=179195&#038;lang=en"},"modified":"2026-08-18T14:09:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T05:09:17","slug":"cockroach-hunt-may-have-caused-manhole-blast","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/news\/cockroach-hunt-may-have-caused-manhole-blast\/","title":{"rendered":"Cockroach Hunt May Have Caused Manhole Blast"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Several manhole covers were blown into the air in Higashitsukiguma, Hakata Ward, on the night of August 16, with one striking a nearby house. The blast damaged a rainwater pipe and shattered roof tiles, but no injuries were reported. Police said a man using a gas burner to kill a cockroach had come within about 1 meter of a manhole when the explosion occurred. Gas was detected in a nearby gutter, and police and firefighters are investigating whether the burner&#8217;s flame ignited gas that had leaked into the sewer. <strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fnn.jp\/articles\/-\/1096054\" target=\"_blank\">TNC News<\/a> \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/kbc.co.jp\/movie\/article.php?cdid=47072&#038;cid=244&#038;mid=76\" target=\"_blank\">KBC News<\/a> \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/newsdig.tbs.co.jp\/articles\/rkb\/2875326?display=1\" target=\"_blank\">RKB News<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fnn_manhole-blast-hakata_2026_cl.jpg?resize=1340%2C752&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"1340\" height=\"752\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-179196\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fnn_manhole-blast-hakata_2026_cl.jpg?w=1340&amp;ssl=1 1340w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fnn_manhole-blast-hakata_2026_cl.jpg?resize=300%2C168&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fnn_manhole-blast-hakata_2026_cl.jpg?resize=1024%2C575&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fnn_manhole-blast-hakata_2026_cl.jpg?resize=768%2C431&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><br \/>\nPhoto: RKB News<\/p>\n<p>Get Fukuoka and Kyushu\u2019s top stories delivered to your inbox. The Now is Fukuoka Now\u2019s free biweekly newsletter featuring local news, events, culture, business, and community updates in English. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\">Subscribe to The Now<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Summaries based on public content, errors may occur during translation. Images credited independently. Send feedback using <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/contact\/\">this <strong>form<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Several manhole covers were blown into the air in Higashitsukiguma, Hakata Ward, on the night of August 16, with one striking a nearby house. The blast damaged a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30292,"featured_media":179196,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"class_list":["post-179195","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","location-fukuoka-city","location-hakata-ku","news-category-general","en-US"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/179195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179195"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}