Japan fire kills 11 at distressed home for elderly people

Eleven people were killed in northern Japan after fire broke out at a home for elderly people with financial difficulties, police said on Thursday.

Television footage showed the three-story building engulfed in flames and dozens of firefighters battling the blaze in snowy conditions.

Pictures of the aftermath showed the blackened husk of the building, whose roof had apparently collapsed due to the fire.

The victims – eight men and three women – were among 16 residents of the facility in Sapporo, Hokkaido, run by a local organization.

The other five residents escaped, a police spokesperson told AFP, adding that authorities were investigating the victims’ identities.

Kenji Kikai, a local police official, told AFP, “Of the five people who escaped, three people – two men and one woman – were rushed to hospital. The two men were slightly injured and the woman sustained moderate injuries.

“They are still hospitalized but the injuries are not lifethreatening,” added Kikai.

Two others escaped unharmed.

Police said they had launched a probe into the cause of the fire first alerted at 11:42 pm Wednesday via an emergency call.

The accommodation was originally a Japanese inn built around 50 years ago that was later turned into a welfare home.