Official says 33 confirmed dead in Kyoto anime studio fire
Posted July 18, 2019 7:15 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
KYOTO – A Japanese fire official says the death toll from a Kyoto animation studio fire is now 33 and nobody else is believed to be still missing.
Kyoto fire department official Kazuhiro Hayashi says 36 others have been injured, 10 of them critically.
Hayashi says firefighters found the largest number of victims on the top floor of the three-story building, including some who had collapsed on the stairs leading to the roof. Two of the dead were found on the first floor, 11 on the second and 20 on the third floor.
Japanese media reports said the suspect may have set the fire at the front door, forcing people to try to find other exits and slowing their escape.
The outcome makes the case the deadliest fire since a 2001 fire that killed 44 in Tokyo’s Kabukicho entertainment district.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe mourned for the victims of a deadly fire at a Kyoto animation production office.
In his tweet Thursday, Abe said he was speechless at the horrendous scene of the building that gutted out by the explosion and fire.
“I express my condolences to the people who were killed, and pray for the earliest possible recovery of those who were injured.”
The suspect in the fire was injured and is in a hospital.
