Japan: 27 people feared dead in building fire in Osaka

Osaka, Dec 17: Twenty-seven people were feared dead after a blaze at a building in Osaka on Friday, media reports said, citing the Japanese city's fire department. The fire broke out on the fourth or fifth floor of an eight-story building in a shopping and entertainment area on Friday, NHK said.

Twenty-eight people were believed to be affected, 27 of whom were found in a state of heart and lung failure, NHK reported. The cause of the fire and other details were not immediately known.

The Osaka Municipal Fire Department received a report at around 10:20 a.m. that a fire started on the fourth floor of the building located in Osaka's Kitashinchi entertainment district near Osaka Station.