TOKYO — Japanese police on Sunday, Dec. 19, 2021 identified a 61-year-old man as a prime suspect behind a fire that engulfed a mental clinic in an eight-story building where he was a patient, killing 24 people who were trapped inside.
The government also announced plans to inspect all buildings nationwide. Authorities believe the massive death toll at the downtown Osaka building on Friday was largely because the fire made its only emergency stairway unusable.
Osaka police, which are investigating the case as arson and murder, identified the man as Morio Tanimoto. He is being treated in serious condition after he was rescued from the fire, police said. He has not been formally arrested or charged.
After verifying security cameras and searching his home, police said they suspect Tanimoto was responsible for setting fire to the mental clinic, an official at the prefectural police investigation department told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
“Nishi Umeda clinic for the mind and body” was on the fourth floor of an eight-story building in Osaka’s bustling business district of Kitashinchi, and was known for its support for mental health at work.
Police searched the man’s home on Saturday and found the clinic’s patient card.
Authorities are investigating how the smoke filled the floor so quickly that the victims became trapped. The fire that burned just 25 square meters (270 square feet) of the floor near the reception was mostly extinguished within 30 minutes.
Nationwide inspection
On Sunday, Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Yasushi Kaneko, who is also in charge of fire and disaster management, said he had instructed a nationwide inspection of about 30,000 multi-floor commercial buildings with only one stairway.
Kaneko said many victims could not escape and died because the Osaka building’s only stairway was not accessible due to the fire and they lost their way out. He said the ministry will set up a panel of experts to discuss safety measures.
Police quoted witnesses who saw a man walking into the clinic with a paper bag, which he put on the floor, right next to a heater by the reception desk, and kicked it. Liquid poured out, caught fire and the whole floor was in flames and smoke.
Witnesses and the investigation suggested that the victims gasped for air and struggled to find their way out of the clinic. Most were found to have collapsed while headed to the other end of the clinic, only to find no way out. (AP)