At least 27 feared dead in building fire in Japan's Osaka

Tokyo: At least 27 people are feared to have died after a blaze at a building in a commercial district of the Japanese city of Osaka, Japan.

Police are investigating whether the blaze was started deliberately, public broadcaster NHK said.

They are investigating reports that a man spilled liquid that started the fire.

The victims suffered cardiopulmonary arrest, a term often used in preliminary reports before a death is officially confirmed, reports say.

Footage showed blackened windows after dozens of firefighters extinguished the blaze on the fourth floor.

The charred interior of the fourth floor of the narrow office building was visible through broken and blackened windows.

The floor housed a clinic that provided mental health services and general medical care, local media said.

An Osaka fire department official told that no signs of life could be detected in 27 of the 28 people injured in the blaze, with the victims being taken to hospital.

"The fire was detected at 10:18 am at the fourth floor," they said. "As of noon, 70 fire engines are at the scene."

The blaze, in the busy business area near Kitashinchi train station in the city in western Japan, had been put out after half an hour, the official said.

A middle-aged woman who witnessed the fire told public broadcaster NHK: "There was lots of a dark smoke... there was a very strong smell, too."

Some people were evacuated from the building by fire crews using ladders.

The blaze was successfully extinguished within half an hour, after it burned across an area of approximately 20 sq m (215 sq ft), the local fire department said.

No damage has been reported to other floors within the building or any neighboring properties.

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.