Kobe Apartment Fire Leaves 4 Dead, 3 in Critical Condition

The Yomiuri Shimbun

12:26 JST, January 22, 2023

KOBE — A fire broke out in an apartment building in Hyogo Ward, Kobe, early Sunday morning, leaving four men dead and three other men in critical condition.

According to the Kobe City Fire Department, a male resident called emergency services at around 1:40 a.m. Sunday to report plumes of black smoke drifting out of the windows of a three-story apartment building in the ward.

The blaze was extinguished about three hours after it erupted, but it burned about 60 square meters of the first and second floors that make up 300 square meters of the building.

The bodies of four adult males were found on the first floor.

Three other men were taken to the hospital in critical condition with injuries such as burns to their throats.

The building has 31 units and is located in a residential area about 700 meters south of JR Kobe Station.