KUMAMOTO (Jiji Press)--Aeon Co. President and CEO Akio Yoshida apologized Wednesday for the deaths of three people following an explosion that occurred at the Japanese company's Aeon Mall Kumamoto shopping facility after a powerful earthquake the previous day.

"I seriously take the situation in which precious lives were lost and deeply apologize to the bereaved families," Yoshida told a press conference in the city of Kumamoto, the capital of the namesake southwestern Japan prefecture struck by the earthquake, which registered up to 7, the highest level on Japan's seismic intensity scale.

At a press conference in the city of Kumamoto, southwestern Japan, on Wednesday, Aeon President and CEO Akio Yoshida (center) and others apologize over an explosion that occurred at the Aeon Mall Kumamoto shopping facility in the town of Kashima, Kumamoto Prefecture, about an hour and a half after a powerful earthquake Tuesday.

At a press conference in the city of Kumamoto, southwestern Japan, on Wednesday, Aeon President and CEO Akio Yoshida (center) and others apologize over an explosion that occurred at the Aeon Mall Kumamoto shopping facility in the town of Kashima, Kumamoto Prefecture, about an hour and a half after a powerful earthquake Tuesday.

The victims were confirmed to be shop workers at the facility in the town of Kashima in the prefecture, according to Yoshida.

At the press conference, Aeon said that about 3,000 customers were in Aeon Mall Kumamoto on Tuesday. Around 5 p.m. Tuesday, about 30 minutes after the earthquake struck, employees evacuated all customers to areas outside the facility building, and a report was made to Aeon's head office saying that the evacuation was complete for all customers and almost all workers.

The explosion occurred on the second floor of the facility around 5:50 p.m. the same day, and the incident was reported to police and fire authorities. Work to confirm the safety of a total of about 2,700 Aeon group employees and staff workers at 204 shops in the facility was conducted later.

Eight shop workers are believed to have been in the facility at the time of the explosion. Three have been confirmed dead, and one is in cardiopulmonary arrest, while the status of three others remains unknown, according to the company.

The company's guidelines stipulate that employees and others should not return to facilities after evacuation in times of earthquakes or other emergencies.

"We have not been able to confirm" whether the shop workers did not evacuate or returned to the facility after evacuation, Yoshida said.

The explosion is believed to have occurred along the liquefied petroleum gas supply route from a gas tank outside the building to the restaurant area in the facility, according to Yoshida. A gas leak is highly likely to be the cause of the explosion, he said.

"While placing top priority on saving lives, we will make our best efforts to identify the cause by sharing information with fire authorities," Yoshida said.