Outline of the smoke accident
At around 6 p.m. on April 4, smoke was observed issuing from the elevator machine room on the 51st floor of the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower. As firefighters fought the fire, we guided all visitors and staffs on the top floors (49th-52nd floors) to safety. At 7:44 p.m., the fire department confirmed that the floors concerned were safe. There were no injuries, and no damage occurred to materials outside the machine room.

Facts
An on-site inspection carried out April 5 showed that one of the eight strands constituting each of eight elevator wire ropes had partially been damaged, with the end of the damaged strand coming into contact with a metallic and generating sparks. We are now performing inspections to identify the factors leading to the strand damage, focusing on the potential inadequacy of both the wire cable itself and our maintenance procedures.

Countermeasures
Upon identifying the cause of the incident, we immediately initiated emergency inspections of each of the elevators manufactured by Nippon Otis and implemented repairing measures, including wire rope replacement. Although we originally had planned to replace all elevator cables in June of this year, we began this replacement ahead of schedule to ensure safety. The elevators will be available sequentially as maintenance work proceeds. All elevators are scheduled to be available by late May. During this maintenance, passengers may use emergency elevators as well as ordinary passenger elevators.

All facilities located on the top floors - Academy Hills on the 49th floor, Roppongi Hills Club on the 51st floor, Tokyo City View (observatory) on the 52nd floor, and the Mori Art Museum on the 53rd floor - will open normally.

We apologize for any inconvenience caused and we sincerely appreciate your understanding.