Japan investigators believe only escape route blocked in fatal clinic fire


Firefighters work at the building where a fire broke out, in Osaka, Japan December 18, 2021. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Tokyo (Reuters) - A Japanese cabinet official said on Sunday that victims of a fire in a clinic that claimed 24 lives last week were blocked from the only escape route, prompting an emergency inspection of similar buildings.

In an act of suspected arson, a man entered a fourth-floor clinic in the western city of Osaka carrying a bag of liquid that caught fire after he set it near a heater and kicked it, according to police.

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