At least 33 dead in arson attack at Japanese animation studio
● Firefighters still searching building ● Man screamed ‘you die’ before fire
A man screaming “you die” burst into an animation production studio in Japan and set it on fire, killing at least 33 people and leaving dozens injured.
The blaze in Kyoto injured another 36 people, some of them critically, Japanese authorities said.
Most were workers at Kyoto Animation, known for mega-hit stories featuring high school girls, with places featured in the stories even becoming “pilgrimage sites” for their fans.
The fire started in the threestorey building in Japan’s ancient capital after the suspect sprayed an unidentified liquid accelerant, Kyoto prefectural police and fire department officials said.
Thirteen were confirmed dead on the ground and first floors, Kyoto fire department official Kazuhiro Hayashi said.
On the second floor, more than ten people were found unresponsive, he said. Some of them were found on the stairs where they apparently collapsed while gasping for air and trying to go out to the roof.
Mr Hayashi says firefighters were still searching inside the building in case anyone else was left behind.
Kyoto police said the suspect was injured and taken to a hospital for treatment. They are investigating the man, who is 41 and not a company employee, on suspicion of arson.
A witness, who saw the suspect being approached by police, told japanese networks the man admitted spreading gasoline and setting a fire with a lighter.
She told NHK public television the man had burns on his arms and legs and that he was angrily complaining that something of his had been “stolen”, possibly by the company.
NHK footage also showed sharp knives police had collected from the scene, though it was not clear if they belonged to the suspect. Survivors who saw the attacker said he was not their colleague and that he was screaming “[you] die” when he dumped the liquid and started the fire. They said some of the survivors got splashed with the liquid.
Kyoto Animation, better known as Kyoani, was founded in 1981 as an animation and comic book production studio.
Its hits include Lucky Star, K-ON! and Haruhi Suzumiya. The company does not have a major presence outside Japan, though it was hired to provide secondary animation work on a 1998 Pokemon feature that appeared in US theatres and a Winnie the Pooh video.
Footage on Japan’s NHK television showed grey smoke billowing from the charred building. Other footage showed windows blown off.
“There was an explosion, then I heard people shouting, some asking for help,” a female witness told TBS TV. “Black smoke was rising from windows on upper floors, then there was a man struggling to crawl out of the window.”
Witnesses in the neighbourhood said they heard bangs coming from the building.
Others said they saw people coming out blackened, bleeding and walking barefoot, Kyodo News reported.
Rescue officials set up an orange tent outside the studio building to provide first aid and sort out the injured.
Fire department officials said more than 70 people were in the building at the time of the fire and many of them ran outside, with at least 33 killed or presumed dead.
A fire in 2001 in Tokyo’s congested Kabukicho entertainment district killed 44 people in its worst known case of arson in modern times.
Police never announced an arrest for setting the blaze, though five people were convicted of negligence.
In 2008, 16 people died in a blaze at a movie theatre in Osaka, near Kyoto.