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Four people died when a fire destroyed a two-story lodging facility in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on Sunday morning.
According to police, the bodies, which have not yet been identified, were all male, Fuji TV reported. Three other men -- one man in his 80s, another in his 70s and third in his 30s -- were taken to hospital, suffering from burns and smoke inhalation.
The fire started about 7 a.m. in the Okubo area of Shinjuku, near Higashi-Shinjuku subway station, police were quoted as saying. Forty fire engines were mobilized and finally extinguished the blaze about two hours later. Investigators said that the smell of gas in the air was strong, Fuji reported.
The 30-year-old apartment house, which is made of wood, has 26 apartments, 23 of which were occupied at the time of the fire, Fuji quoted police as saying. Many of the residents are senior citizens living on welfare.
© Japan Today
10 Comments
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tomatoflight
Jeez that is depressing. Fires, what a way to go.
Tom DeMicke
How do they fit 40 fire engines in a congested area like that?
nath
very good point Tokyo. They only just started putting them into many of the apartment in my region. There are still many older homes without them here
tokyokawasaki
What's the chances that the building had no smoke detectors? Any news about that in other outlets?
seesaw1
I was in the area today...didn't realised something terrible as such had happened. How sad...:(
Victor Ronald Sanchez Velarde
I used to live around there...
YongYang
Poor people.
Apsara
For a fire in an urban area? The only time I've seen fire-fighting helicopters is for forest fires. Where do they use helicopters for house fires?
アメリ フセイン
An awful way to die. I'm surprised they couldn't get it under control faster, must because the way buildings are laid out (densely packer) in Shinjuku.
HighLama
No helicopters?