One of the participants in the Olympic torch relay, which started on March 25 before the Tokyo Olympics in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, ran with an extinguished torch, the TV channel NHK reports.
According to journalists, the fire got extinguished during the relay in the village of Iitate. The participant did not pay attention to it.
At the end of the section, the torch was lit again with a spare fire.
The previous evening the torch was fading due to strong winds.
The relay started at the J-Village football training center. The members of the Japanese women's soccer team were the first to pick up torches. In 2011, the athletes won the World Cup in Germany. Their participation in the ceremony and the election of the prefecture are deeply symbolic to the Japanese. This symbolizes the country's recovery after the devastating 2011 tsunami and the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant accident.
The Olympic torch will pass through Japan's 47th prefecture, and after 121 days, the relay will end in Tokyo, where the Olympic Games will open on July 23.
