Tokyo, 13 April, /AJMEDIA/
A fire gutted a wooden house in Aomori Prefecture, northeastern Japan, early Thursday, leaving five people dead, police said.
Five bodies were found in the two-story house in Rokunohe that was occupied by 68-year-old plasterer Toshimi Jyumonji and seven others, police said, adding they were investigating the blaze and the possibility of murder-arson.
Four of the residents — Jyumonji’s wife, 67, his daughter, 39, one of his grandchildren aged 9, and his mother-in-law, 88, were unaccounted for, they said.
Of the five bodies, one did not appear to be that of a resident of the house, they said. Jyumonji and two other grandchildren escaped the fire, while the 38-year-old husband of his daughter had not returned from work, they said.
The fire completely destroyed the house with a total floor space of about 340 square meters, a garage and a storage shed.