Tanks for the call

KITSUKI, Oita -- The Maritime Self-Defense Force and Japan Coast Guard mobilized forces after being called out to disarm what a fisherman thought was a torpedo only to reveal it was an empty gas tank, coast guard officials said.

Coast guard officials said they received a call on Wednesday from a fisherman who said he been using a dragnet in Kitsuki Bay and pulled in a torpedo about 2.5 meters long and with a circumference of around 1.1 meters.

Coast guard officials called in MSDF ordinance experts, who arrived from Hiroshima the following day.

They examined what was believed to have been a torpedo and quickly revealed that it did not have an entrance for explosives and that what had been found was actually an iron gas tank. The tank is believed to have been filled with gas used in soldering.

Coast guard officials said it is extremely rare for torpedoes to be found in waters near Oita