Authorities in Japan on Thursday arrested a man who shouted: “You Die!” before allegedly starting a fire at an animation studio that authorities fear left at least 23 people dead and another 36 injured, according to reports.
Thirteen people were confirmed dead and more than 10 others are presumed dead.
The suspect, who is 41-years-old, is reportedly among the injured at the hospital. He is believed to have set the studio ablaze after spreading a fire accelerant, according to the New York Times. Police are investigating the man on suspicion of arson.
Smoke billows from a three-story building of Kyoto Animation in a fire in Kyoto, western Japan, Thursday, July 18, 2019. (Kyodo News via AP)
Fire department officials said 13 people have been confirmed dead and more than 10 others are presumed dead. Most were workers at Kyoto Animation, known for mega-hit stories featuring high school girls.
Kyoto fire department official Satoshi Fujiwara said 36 others have been injured, some of them critically.
The fire broke out in the three-story building in Japan’s ancient capital of Kyoto, after a suspect sprayed an unidentified liquid to accelerate the blaze, Kyoto prefectural police and fire department officials said. (Kyodo News via AP)
Survivors who saw the attacker said he was not their colleague and that he was screaming “You die!” when he dumped the liquid and started the fire, according to Japanese media reports
He said firefighters found more than 10 people presumed dead on the top floor of a three-story building, some of them collapsed on the stairs leading to the roof.
Fire department officials said more than 70 people were in the building at the time of the fire and many of them ran outside.
Kyoto Animation, better known as KyoAni, was founded in 1981 as an animation and comic book production studio, and is known for mega-hit stories featuring high school girls, including “Lucky Star,” ”K-On!” and “Haruhi Suzumiya.”
