Suspected arson in downtown Osaka building leaves 24 dead

By CHISATO TANAKA and MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press

OSAKA, Japan (AP) — A fire that spread from a fourth-floor mental clinic in an eight-story building in downtown Osaka in western Japan has left 24 dead in what police are treating as a possible case of arson. Police are searching for a man who witnesses saw carrying a paper bag from which an unidentified liquid was dripping. It’s not clear if he’s among the dead. Fire officials who reached the building found 27 people in a state of cardiac arrest, and three were resuscitated. People on other floors of the building are believed to have been safely evacuated. Authorities are investigating a possibility that the smoke filled the floor so quickly that the victims had no time to escape.