Tokyo: More than 20 people were feared to die after the fire broke out on Friday in a building in Osaka in West Japan, a fire department official said, and the police were investigating combustion as possible causes.
The fire began on the fourth floor of an eight-story building in the Kitashinchi shopping and entertainment area, said the Osaka City Fire Department said Akira Kishimoto.
Twenty-seven people were found in a state of heart stop and one other woman was injured, said Kishimoto.
The woman realized and dropped by air stairs from the window and was hospitalized.
All victims were taken to the nearest hospital.
Five people have been pronounced dead and the other three were resistited, NHK national television and other media reported, but the Japanese authorities refused to confirm these reports.
Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura offers condolences to those who died in the fire.
“I pray that life as much as possible can be saved,” he said.
This building accommodates internal medicine clinics, English and other business schools.
Many victims were believed to be a visitor at the clinic on the fourth floor, said fire department officials.
Yoshimura said he instructed another hospital and a mental health clinic to provide consultation for around 600 people who received care at a damaged clinic.
Causes of fire and other details are not immediately known.
Osaka police said they were investigating to determine whether the fire was caused by combustion or accident.
Media reports said the police were looking for a man who witnessed carrying a paper bag from where unknown fluid dripped, but the police refused to confirm the reports.
People on the other floor of the building are believed to have been safely evacuated, said Kishimoto.
The NHK record shows dozens of fire engine and police vehicles on the road near the building, with the audience watching developments from across the street.
NHK quoted a witness said he heard a woman’s voice coming from the fourth floor asking for help.
Another witness told Asahi TV, he saw the fire and smoke out of the window on the fourth floor of the building when he stepped out after hearing the commotion.
Bagus-Bystander another told TBS television that a number of people were taken from the building covered with blue tarpaulin and looked lifeless.
He said he saw a woman who was still surprised through the window.
In total, 70 firefighting machines were mobilized to fight fire, which was largely extinguished in about 30 minutes from an emergency call, officials said.
In combustion 2019 in the Kyoto animated studio, an attacker stormed into the building and burned, killing 36 people and injuring more than 30 others.
The incident surprised Japan and drawing the outpouring of sadness from anime fans throughout the world.
In 2001, a Blaze which was deliberately arranged in Kabukicho Tokyo’s entertainment district killed 44 people – the largest combustion case in the country in modern times.