Image copyright Reuters Image caption Firefighters managed to save five of the 16 residents

Eleven people have been killed after a fire at a Japanese residential facility for people in financial difficulty.

TV footage on the country's public broadcaster NHK showed the house engulfed in flames late on Wednesday night.

Of the 16 people living in the home, five were rescued by firefighters battling the blaze.

The three-storey building in the northern city of Sapporo is home to mostly elderly residents.

The home is run by an organisation providing affordable accommodation and helping people on welfare find work, NHK reported.

Authorities have launched an investigation into what caused the fire.

In 2010, seven people were killed in a fire at Sapporo nursing home for the elderly. </s> TOKYO, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Eleven people were killed and five were rescued in a fire at a facility to support senior people on welfare in northern Japan late on Wednesday, public broadcaster NHK said.

The 16 elderly people were living in the three-storey wooden facility in Sapporo, where they paid a monthly rent of 36,000 yen ($330), NHK said on Thursday.

Three of the survivors, aged between their fifties and eighties, were being treated in hospital but their condition was not life-threatening, the broadcaster said.

The facility is run by a Sapporo organisation that helps those who are on a public assistance by providing food and helping them find jobs, NHK said.

In March 2010, seven people at a nursing home for elderly people with dementia were killed in a fire in Sapporo, Kyodo news agency said. </s> A total of 11 people were killed in a fire at a facility to support senior homeless people in Sapporo late Wednesday night, police said Thursday.

The victims were among the 16 residents of the two-story wooden facility run by a local organization that supports homeless people.

The police confirmed five survivors of the fire that broke out at around 11:40 p.m. in a residential area about 500 meters east of a subway station.

A witness said he saw the facility engulfed in flames after hearing loud blast-like sounds more than 10 times.

In Sapporo, there was a fire in March 2010 that killed seven residents of a nursing home for elderly people with dementia. </s> At least three people have died in a fire in a high-rise block of flats in Hawaii.

The blaze at the Marco Polo apartments in the capital Honolulu started on the 26th floor and spread to at least the 27th floor and several flats.

The number of fatalities could change as firefighters said there were reports of people trapped in their apartments.

Paramedics treated several injured people and at least two were in a serious but stable condition in hospital.

Troy Yasuda, who lives in a building across the street, was giving water to people who were evacuated.

"They were choking from the smoke," he said.

Mr Yasuda said he watched people being carried out.

"It's been an orderly evacuation," said security guard Leonard Rosa, who was answering phones from the front lobby of the 31-storey building.

Fourth-floor resident Aaron Dengler and his wife were helping their elderly neighbour get to an aid station the American Red Cross set up at a nearby park.

He said: "It doesn't help to just stand and watch." </s> At least 33 people have died in a suspected arson attack

At least 33 people were killed in a fire at the acclaimed Kyoto Animation Co. in Kyoto, Japan on Thursday. Dozens more were injured, some of whom are in critical condition. The fire appears to have been the result of arson, and police are waiting to question the suspect, who is also injured.

Firefighters worked for hours to contain the blaze, located in a residential area of Kyoto’s Fushimi=ku district.

Kyoto Animation’s president, Hideaki Hatta, said that the company had received threatening emails before the attack.

The manga and anime series produced by Kyotro Animation include “K-On!”, “Haruhi Suzumiya,” and “Violet Evergarden.”

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, tweeted, “So many people have lost their life and been injured as a result of the arson and murder case that took place in Kyoto today. It’s so tragic that I am at a loss for words.”

We invite you to share condolences for the victims in our Guest Book. </s> SAN JOSE PINULA, Guatemala (AP) — A fire swept through the female section of a crowded children’s shelter near Guatemala City early Wednesday and officials said at least 22 girls died and dozens more were injured.

Photos from inside the shelter showed blue sheets covering sneaker-clad bodies and bits of foam mattresses in what appeared to be a smoke-stained dormitory room.

Weeping, distraught relatives waited outside the walled facility for news of their children. Shelter personnel gave them pieces of paper to write down their children’s names so they could try to locate them.

The head of Guatemala’s social welfare agency, Carlos Rodas, said youths at the shelter started rioting Tuesday in an effort to escape. Complaints about abuse and living conditions at the overcrowded shelter have been frequent.

Then on Wednesday, about 9 a.m., “Some of the adolescents lit their mattresses on fire,” Rodas said. “We don’t shirk responsibility, we accept it, but we can’t get those lives back.”

Julia Barrera, spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office, said late in the day that at least 20 children and teenagers perished. Two hospitals said they received 41 injured girls between the ages of 13 and 17, many with second- and third-degree burns. Dr. Carlos Soto, director of Roosevelt Hospital, said some of the injured had life-threatening burns.

A short time later, Sharon Avila, the spokeswoman for Roosevelt Hospital, said the 21st victim had died there. Late Wednesday, the Hospital San Juan de Dios reported another death, raising the toll to 22.

Rodas said the shelter had an official capacity of 500, but was housing at least 800 youths.

The federal government said in a statement that it had fired the shelter’s director. It also said that before the fire the government had asked that youths with criminal records housed at the shelter be moved to other facilities, but that had not occurred.

A 15-year-old girl being treated for minor injuries at Roosevelt Hospital said the uprising followed rumors of an escape attempt. Some boys, or even young men who were still housed at the center after turning 18, entered the girls’ area, she said. She said she fled to her dormitory’s roof with others fearing the boys would attack them.

Early Wednesday morning the fire began. “I saw the smoke in the place. It smelled like flesh,” the girl said.

Mario Cruz, spokesman for volunteer firefighters, said the fire appeared to have started in one of the girls’ living areas and spread to another dormitory.

The government-run shelter, known as the Virgin of the Assumption Safe Home, is in a rural area outside the capital. The campus is surrounded by trees and a 30-foot wall. It houses at-risk children who were victims of abuse as well as youths who completed sentences at youth detention centers and had nowhere else to go.

President Jimmy Morales’ office said there would be three days of mourning and issued a statement confirming at least 15 deaths and said the cause of the fire was under investigation. The president held a moment of silence to mark the tragedy during a previously scheduled event to commemorate International Women’s Day.

Attorney General Annabella Morfin said children in a protective situation should not be housed with children who have problems with the law and called for an investigation of those responsible.

Jorge de Leon, Guatemala’s human rights prosecutor, said in a statement that at least 102 children had been located after escaping from the shelter and more had managed to flee. De Leon said younger children fled the shelter because they were being abused by the elder children.

“According to what they say, the bigger kids have control and they attack them constantly,” de Leon wrote. “They also complain that food is scarce and of poor quality.”

He called on authorities “to evaluate whether it is appropriate to have these different groups concentrated in one place.”

In 2013, a 14-year-old girl was murdered at the facility. Investigators said the girl was strangled by one of the other residents. </s> SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A fire swept through a hospital in southeastern South Korea on Friday, killing more than 30 people and injuring dozens in one of the country’s most deadly fires in recent years.

Fire official Choi Man-wu said in a televised briefing that the fire at Sejong Hospital in the city of Miryang killed 31 people and injured 77, eight of them in critical condition.

The fire started from the first floor of the hospital at 7:35 a.m. and was extinguished at 10:26 a.m., Choi said. The cause of the fire is under investigation

He said a total of 194 people had been hospitalized in two buildings of Sejong Hospital, including 94 elderly people who were hospitalized in the nursing hospital, before the fire broke out.

Sejong Hospital has a nursing hospital for the elderly and also offers regular medical services.

South Korea is one of the fastest-aging countries in the world and has many nursing hospitals, which are preferred for elderly people who long-term doctors’ care.

Yonhap news agency says the hospital has 193 beds including 98 beds for the elderly who needs nursing care with 35 medical staff.

In late December, 29 people were killed in a fire that tore through an eight-floor building in the city of Jecheon in central Seoul. It was the country’s deadliest blaze over the past decade before the hospital fire.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> Firefighters work as smoke billows from a hospital in Miryang, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 26, 2018. The hospital fire causes scores of casualties and injuries, according to a fire agency official. (National Fire Agency/Yonhap via AP)

SEOUL: A fire swept through a hospital for the elderly in southeastern South Korea on Friday, killing more than 30 people and injuring dozens in one of the country's deadliest fires in recent years.

Fire official Choi Man-wu said in a televised briefing that the fire at Sejong Hospital in the city of Miryang killed 31 people and injured 77, eight of them in critical condition.

The fire started from the first floor emergency room of the hospital at 7:35 a.m. and was extinguished at 10:26 a.m., Choi said. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

He said a total of 194 people had been hospitalized in two buildings of Sejong Hospital, including 94 elderly people who were hospitalized in the nursing hospital, before the fire broke out.

President Moon Jae-in's office said Moon convened an emergency meeting with top advisers to discuss the fire. But it gave no further details.

Sejong Hospital has a nursing hospital for the elderly and also offers regular medical services. The hospital has 193 beds including 98 beds for the elderly who needs nursing care with 35 medical staff, according to Yonhap news agency.

South Korea is one of the fastest-aging countries in the world and has many nursing hospitals, which are preferred for elderly people who need long-term doctors' care.

Several recent fires in South Korea have been deadly.

In late December, 29 people were killed in a building fire in central Seoul, which was the country's deadliest blaze over the past decade before the hospital fire. Last weekend, a fire at a Seoul motel killed six people, and police arrested a man who allegedly set it ablaze in anger because he had been denied a room for being heavily drunk.

In 2014, a fire set by an 81-year-old dementia patient killed 21 at another hospital for the elderly. </s> A fire swept through a hospital for the elderly in southeastern South Korea on Friday, killing more than 30 people and injuring dozens in one of the country’s deadliest blazes in recent years.

A fire swept through a hospital for the elderly in southeastern South Korea on Friday, killing more than 30 people and injuring dozens in one of the country’s deadliest blazes in recent years.

Fire official Choi Man-wu said in a televised briefing that the blaze at Sejong Hospital in the city of Miryang killed 31 people and injured 77, eight of whom are in a critical condition.

The fire started from the first floor emergency room of the hospital at 7.35am and was extinguished at 10.26am, Mr Choi said. The cause of the fire is under investigation. He said a total of 194 people had been hospitalised in two buildings of Sejong Hospital, including 94 elderly people who were in the nursing hospital, before the fire broke out.

President Moon Jae-in’s office said Moon convened an emergency meeting with top advisers to discuss the fire. But it gave no further details. Sejong Hospital has a nursing hospital for the elderly and also offers regular medical services. The hospital has 193 beds, including 98 beds for the elderly who need nursing care, with 35 medical staff, according to Yonhap news agency.

South Korea is one of the fastest-ageing countries in the world and has many nursing hospitals, which are preferred for elderly people who need long-term care. Several recent fires in South Korea have been deadly.

In late December, 29 people were killed in a building fire in central Seoul, which was the country’s deadliest blaze over the past decade before the hospital fire. Last weekend, a fire at a Seoul motel killed six people. In 2014, a fire set by an 81-year-old dementia patient killed 21 at another hospital for the elderly.
Eleven people are killed in a fire at a Japanese residential facility for people in financial difficulty.