TOKYO: The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) has found that power to the emergency button receiver was turned off in the office of a private sauna located in the Akasaka district, Tokyo, where a couple was killed after a fire broke out on Dec 15, according to investigative sources.
The emergency button inside the sauna room showed signs of having been pressed, leading police to believe the device may not have been functioning properly.
The fire broke out at around noon on Dec 15 in a private room at sauna shop Saunatiger, killing 36-year-old Masanari Matsuda, who ran a beauty salon in Kawasaki, and his 37-year-old wife Yoko, a nail technician.
The backrest and seating area of the sauna room were burned.
According to the investigative sources, the sauna room had neither inner nor outer doorknobs.
It is believed the couple pressed the emergency button inside the room, and the cover over the emergency button was broken.
Emergency buttons are installed in each sauna room. When pressed, a receiver in the office detects the abnormality and indicates which room it came from.
However, during the on-site inspection on Dec 16, the receiver was not turned on.
It is possible this was also the case on Dec 15, the day of the fire.
The MPD is also conducting an on-site inspection on Dec 17 to investigate the facility’s management status. - The Japan News/ANN
