In a shocking incident, at least 27 people died after a fire broke out in a building on Friday morning in downtown Osaka, Japan.
Police are looking into the possibility of an arson attack in the building fire.
A witness reported that, shortly before the blaze, a man in his 60s carrying paper bag that was leaking fluid.
Footage showed blackened windows after dozens of firefighters put out the blaze on the fourth floor.
The fire consumed the fourth floor of the building in Osaka, which housed a medical office.
All the 27 People feared dead appear to have been in a clinic when the fire occurred.
Rescue officials were alerted to the shocking incident on Friday morning, and it was successfully extinguished 30 minutes later after it burned across an area of approximately 20 sqm (215 sq ft).
The building is located in a busy commercial and entertainment district in Osaka.
Last year, Japan saw one of its worst mass casualty incidents since World War Two after a man set fire to a film studio in Kyoto in 2019, killing 36 people.
Speaking to NHK, Ai Sekizawa, an expert on fires at Tokyo University of Science, called Friday’s blaze “shocking.”
