24 dead after suspected arson hits eight-storey building in Japan

17 December 2021, 13:34

Japan Fire
Japan Fire. Picture: PA

Media reports said police in Osaka are searching for a man seen carrying a paper bag which was dripping an unidentified liquid.

A fire that spread from a fourth-floor mental health clinic in an eight-storey building in western Japan has left 24 dead in what police are treating as a possible arson.

Police are searching for a man in his 50s or 60s who witnesses saw carrying a paper bag which was dripping an unidentified liquid. He may have been among the 24 dead, or is one of the three people who were resuscitated and remain in serious conditions, or may have fled, a police investigator said.

Fire crews who reached the building in the business, shopping and entertainment area of Kitashinchi in central Osaka found 27 people in a state of cardiac arrest, said fire department official Akira Kishimoto.

One woman was conscious and brought down by an aerial ladder from a window on the sixth floor and was being treated in hospital, he said.

Later on Friday, 24 people were pronounced dead, the fire department said. It added that three others were resuscitated and are in serious conditions.

In Japan, authorities customarily describe those without vital signs as being in “shinpai teishi” or a state of cardiac and pulmonary arrest, and do not confirm deaths until they are pronounced in hospital and other necessary procedures are done.

Japan Fire
Fire engines near the building in Osaka (Kyodo News/AP)

A doctor at one of the hospitals treating the victims said he believed many of them died after inhaling carbon monoxide as they had limited external injuries.

The building houses the mental and internal medicine clinic, an English language school and other businesses.

Most of the victims are believed to have been visitors at the clinic on the fourth floor, fire officials said.

The cause of the fire and other details were not immediately known. Osaka police earlier said they were working to determine whether the fire was caused by arson.

Japan Fire
Firefighters inside the building (Kyodo News/AP)

They later set up a team at the prefectural police headquarters, a sign they strongly suspect arson and murder.

According to NHK, a female outpatient at the clinic’s reception desk saw the man being sought by police. Another person nearby said the fire started soon after he put the leaky bag next to a stove on the floor and kicked it, with more liquid pouring out.

A clinic psychiatrist, Kotaro Nishizawa, could not be reached after the fire, NHK said. It quoted his father as saying the doctor hinted at a problem at the clinic but did not elaborate.

People on other floors of the building are believed to have been safely evacuated, fire officials said.

Japan Fire
Firefighters and police officers investigate (Chisato Tanaka/AP)

NHK quoted a witness as saying she heard a woman’s voice coming from the fourth floor calling for help. Another witness told TV Asahi he saw flames and smoke coming out of windows on the fourth floor when he stepped outside after hearing a commotion.

In total, 70 fire engines were mobilised to fight the fire, which was fully extinguished more than six hours later, officials said.

In 2019 at the Kyoto Animation studio, an attacker stormed into the building and set it on fire, killing 36 people and injuring more than 30 others.

In 2001, an intentionally set blaze in Tokyo’s Kabukicho entertainment district killed 44 people — the country’s worst known case of arson in modern times.

By Press Association

Latest World News

See more Latest World News

Virginia Giuffre

Woman driving Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Giuffre during crash that left her with 'four days to live' breaks silence

Exclusive
'Donald Trump has made Putin comfortable,' Mikhail Khodorkovsky has warned

'Trump has made Putin comfortable' despite massive Ukraine war losses, exiled former oligarch tells LBC

The bodies of Andrew Searle and his wife Dawn were discovered by a neighbour.

British couple found dead in south of France home being ‘treated as murder-suicide’

The vehicle was later extinguished after the driver, covered in flames, emerged from the vehicle.

Amsterdam Dam Square car explosion sees driver engulfed in flames - just days after mass stabbing

d

Pictured: US tourist arrested for sailing to remote island and leaving a can of Coke for world's most isolated tribe

The Sentinelese are a pre-Neolithic tribe that rejects contact with the modern world

US tourist arrested for sailing to remote island and leaving a can of Coke for the world's most isolated tribe to try

The Trump administration has been ridiculed after imposing tariffs on uninhabited islands

'No one is safe, not even the penguins': Trump administration ridiculed after imposing tariffs on uninhabited islands

World leaders react to US tariffs

'This is not the act of a friend': World leaders react to Trump's 'unwarranted' tariffs

British couple

British couple found dead in New Zealand named - as police probe possible murder-suicide

Virginia Giuffre said she had been left with 'four days to life' after the crash

Bus driver breaks silence on Virginia Giuffre crash that left her 'with four days to live'

Foreign Secretary David Lammy

David Lammy to urge Nato allies to increase defence spending in bid to make alliance 'stronger, fairer and more lethal'

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen

EU threatens further countermeasures against US tariffs after 'major blow to world economy'

Lord Sugar labels Trump tariffs 'a disaster' as Apprentice star teases potential US Presidential meeting

Lord Sugar labels Trump tariffs 'a disaster' and warns that the president 'hasn't thought it through'

Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations in Gaza

Israel expands ground attack on Gaza to seize 'large areas' - despite pleas from hostage families

Police said two people died on Palliser Road, Roseneath.

British couple found dead at home in New Zealand - just months after moving to 'begin new chapter'

Virginia Giuffre warned it was a "very bad situation" after she claimed a school bus ploughed into her car

Virginia Giuffre was charged with breaching restraining order days before crash that 'left her with days to live'