Ten bystanders were rushed to hospital on Sunday after a fire safety drill went awry in Higashiomi, Shiga Prefecture.

According to police, firefighters were demonstrating how to extinguish a fire for a crowd of around 150 onlookers when the incident occurred. TBS reported that a 50-year-old firefighter poured alcohol on a burning oil pan, at which point the alcohol also caught fire and sprayed onto the crowd.

Police say the man, and two young girls, aged 6 and 8, sustained serious burns in the incident, while seven other people, aged between 7 and 70, sustained less serious injuries. The injured onlookers were standing about three meters from the pan, TBS said.

An eyewitness said that a similar incident had occurred moments before at a rehearsal for the drill.

© Japan Today