Fire disaster in the Japanese metropolis of Osaka: More than two dozen people are believed to have died in a fire in a high-rise in the metropolis.

According to media reports, the police are also investigating possible arson.

28 people were victims of the fire, 27 people were diagnosed with "cardiac arrest and respiratory arrest", reported the Japanese TV station NHK on Friday.

This is a common phrase in Japan before a doctor confirms human deaths.

Investigators are investigating information that a man in his 50s or 60s spilled liquid from a paper bag at the scene of the accident, local media reported.

Then the fire broke out - apparently in a psychiatric clinic.

Eyewitnesses portray dramatic scenes

It is the most devastating fire in Japan since an arson attack in 2019 on a famous anime film studio in the ancient imperial city of Kyoto, killing 36. The fire in Osaka broke out in the morning (local time) in an eight-story building on the fourth floor, where there is a clinic that offers psychiatric treatments, among other things. "When I looked outside (from my nearby office), I saw an orange flame in the window on the fourth floor of the building," said an eyewitness to the Kyodo News Agency. A woman waved looking for help from a window on the sixth floor.

Another eyewitness told the NHK TV station that there was a lot of dark smoke and that there was also a very strong smell. Dozens of fire engines and ambulances arrived on a large scale. The fire spread over an area of ​​around 20 square meters, the reports said. The fire was as good as extinguished after around 30 minutes, it said. In addition to the clinic, the building on a busy street also houses a textile shop, a beauty salon and a language school. The building of the accident is located near a train station in a district of Osaka, where several bars and nightclubs are located.

In a fire disaster in Tokyo's famous red-light district Kabukicho 20 years ago, 44 ​​people were killed.

The inferno at that time in a slot machine hall and a hostess club in Japan's capital that was very busy at the time was one of the worst fire disasters in the country's post-war history.

At the time, the people in the four-story building in Tokyo had become victims of blatant security deficiencies.