Suspected arson attack on mental health clinic in Japan leaves 24 dead

A fire that spread from a third-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 in Osaka were searching for a man who was seen carrying a paper bag which was dripping an unidentified liquid.

The man could have been among the 24 dead, reports 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.

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

Twenty-four people were officially pronounced dead. Three others were resuscitated and were 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.

A doctor at one of the hospitals treating the victims said he believed many died after inhaling carbon monoxide as they had few 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 third floor.

According to national broadcaster NHK, a female outpatient 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.

TRAGEDY: Smoke inhalation is believed to have killed many of the 24 people who died in the third-floor blaze.