At least 27 people feared dead in building fire in Japan`s Osaka, says report

New Delhi: A fire broke out in a building in Japan's Osaka on Friday, claiming as many as 27 people, according to NHK television report. 

The fire broke out on the fourth or fifth floor of an eight-story building in a shopping and entertainment area on Friday, said the NHK report.

The report further said that 28 people were believed to be affected, 27 of whom were found in a state of heart and lung failure.

An official at the city`s fire department said 27 people were in cardiopulmonary arrest - a term used in Japan before death is officially confirmed - and one person was injured. Video on public broadcaster NHK showed smoke pouring out of the building`s fourth floor windows, where a psychiatry clinic is located, and at the roof of the building.

The fire was reported shortly after the clinic opened for business at 10 a.m. (0100 GMT) and was mostly extinguished within 30 minutes, NHK reported.

Other floors of the building, which is near Osaka`s main station in the centre of the city, were occupied by a beauty salon, a clothes shop and an English-language school, NHK said. One man told the broadcaster he saw a woman calling for help from one of the windows.

An arson attack at an animation studio in the city of Kyoto in 2019 killed more than 30 people and injured dozens.

(With Agency Inputs)