Kyoto animation studio fire death toll rises to 33

Firefighters work as smoke billows from a three-story building of Kyoto Animation in a fire in Kyoto, western Japan, Thursday, July 18, 2019. Kyoto prefectural police said the fire broke out Thursday morning after a man burst into it and spread unidentified liquid and put fire. Kyodo News via AP
Firefighters work as smoke billows from a three-story building of Kyoto Animation in a fire in Kyoto, western Japan, Thursday, July 18, 2019. Kyoto prefectural police said the fire broke out Thursday morning after a man burst into it and spread unidentified liquid and put fire. Kyodo News via AP

TOKYO – A Japanese fire official says the death toll from the 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.

The suspect was injured and is in a hospital. (AP)

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here