A joint anti-terrorism squad from the fire departments of Hiroshima and Okayama staged a drill Wednesday in Hiroshima ahead of the Group of Seven foreign ministers' meeting to be held in the city next month.
On the assumption that a highly toxic chemical contained in a pet bottle is sprayed at a hotel in central Hiroshima that will host the conference, members of the anti-terrorism squad — wearing chemical-proof suits — rehearsed the operation to rescue people and remove the toxin.
Tomiji Kubo of the Hiroshima Municipal Fire Department said that his team was able to grasp the overall operations through the drill.
The G-7 foreign ministers' meet will be held April 10 to 11 as a precursor to the G-7 leaders summit to be held in the Ise-Shima area of Mie Prefecture in May. G-7 finance ministers will separately meet in Sendai the same month.
Police and other authorities are tightening security around conference venues against possible terrorist attacks, although Japan has so far avoided being a direct target of such attacks.