Japan ends rescue operation at a mall that collapsed after a strong quake

Authorities ended a massive dayslong search-and-rescue operation Saturday at a collapsed shopping mall in southwest Japan following a powerful earthquake that killed 34 people earlier this week.

TOKYO — Authorities ended a massive dayslong search-and-rescue operation Saturday at a collapsed shopping mall in southwest Japan following a powerful earthquake that killed 34 people earlier this week.

The magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Kumamoto Prefecture on Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu on Tuesday. The Aeon Mall, in the town of Kashima, was one of the hardest-hit sites, after an explosion that followed the quake caused the walls and a floor to collapse.

The explosion, which the company said it believes was due to a gas leak, occurred after about 3,000 shoppers had been evacuated to a parking lot following the quake, but some employees remained inside. The mall’s second floor collapsed.

Rescuers extracted five people from under mall debris and retrieved the bodies of seven others over the past five days. On Saturday, officials said all the missing were accounted for and ended the operation at the mall.

A house collapsed onto a car in Hikawa, Japan, on July 30.Yuichi Yamazaki / AFP via Getty ImagesThe overall number of missing in the hit prefecture remains unknown, and search operations pressed on, with thousands of Self Defense troops, police, rescue workers and sniffing dogs deployed.