A fire in a building in downtown Osaka, Japan, is thought to have killed at least 27 people.
According to public broadcaster NHK, police are investigating whether the fire was intentionally started.
According to reports, the victims died of cardiopulmonary arrest, a term that is frequently used in preliminary reports before death is officially confirmed.
After dozens of firefighters extinguished the blaze on the fourth floor, footage showed blackened windows.
All of those thought to be dead were said to be in a psychiatric clinic on the fourth floor of the building, which is located in a busy commercial and entertainment district.
On Friday, shortly after 10:00 a.m. local time (01:00 a.m. GMT), emergency services were notified.
“There was a lot of dark smoke,” one eyewitness told NHK, adding, “and a very strong smell.”
Another eyewitness reported seeing a woman in the building yelling for help.
“When I looked out the fourth-floor window, I saw orange flames,” she told Kyodo News.
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“From the sixth floor, a woman was waving her hands for assistance.”
Firefighters used ladders to evacuate some people from the building.
According to the local fire department, the blaze was successfully extinguished within half an hour after it burned across an area of approximately 20 sq m (215 sq ft).
There has been no damage reported to other floors of the building or any neighboring properties.
In 2019, a man set fire to a film studio in Kyoto, killing 36 people, in one of Japan’s worst mass casualty incidents since World War II.
