At least 44 die in Tokyo explosion

Blast hits packed red light district

Special report: Japan
At least 44 people were killed in Tokyo's red light district yesterday when an explosion and fire tore through a narrow building containing a mah jong parlour, fetish clubs and restaurants.

The death toll could rise in what is already the worst fire disaster in postwar Japanese history, as firefighters continued to search for bodies this morning.

At least three people were seriously injured while jumping to escape the flames.

Police said they were still investigating the cause of the fire, which appeared to have started in the crowded mah jong parlour on the third floor of a four-storey building in Kabukicho, Tokyo's seediest nightspot, at about 1am local time.

Investigators have been told that a fireball ripped through the Ikkyu mah jong parlour when one of the staff opened the only door into the establishment.

Television footage showed firemen climbing through the blackened hole that the explosion had punched through the front of the building, which was reportedly 50 centimetres (6 inches) by 1.5 metres (5ft). Fire engines and ambulances filled the streets below, which were strewn with broken glass. It took five hours to put the fire out.

According to NHK, the public broadcaster, half of the casualties were players and staff at the gaming tables on the third floor. The others were in the Super Loose sex establishment on the fourth floor. Of the dead, at least 10 were women in their 20s.

"I heard a muffled explosion and then saw smoke billowing from the building," one witness said on television.

With only one narrow staircase in the building and no-emergency exit, the people inside were trapped. Some escaped to the roof.

"I saw a man jump off the building and thought it was a suicide. Then I saw smoke pouring out of the building," a man in his 20s told NHK.

Other witnesses said the falls may have been caused by the explosion. "I think they were thrown out by the force of the blasts," a businessman told the TBS channel. "It was mayhem. Some people tried to get back in the building, shouting that there were women and customers inside."

Burn victims were taken to 18 hospitals in Tokyo. The Metropolitan Okubo hospital said all six of those it received were confirmed dead on arrival. No names were given.

The number of casualties surpassed the 33 who were killed in a fire that gutted a hotel in the Akasaka area of central Tokyo in 1982.

The fire looks certain to raise questions about lax safety standards in the sex district.

Kabukicho, a five-minute walk from Shinjuku station in the west of the city, is an adult playground. Its narrow neon-lit streets are filled with bars, karaoke parlours and gaming rooms as well as establishments catering to every sexual taste. It is always packed on a Friday night.

Although prostitution has been illegal in Japan since 1958, fetish clubs and other sex businesses advertise openly. On the side of the building next to the fire, a large neon sign invites customers to the second-floor "sexual harassment clinic".

Most of the buildings in the district are run by crime syndicates and it is a place where the law and safety regulations are routinely flouted.

Today's best video

Today in pictures