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One man dead after fire breaks out at Nikkei Shimbun HQ

Nikkei Shimbun
One man died after a fire broke out at the headquarters of the Nikkei Shimbun newspaper in Tokyo’s Otemachi area on Thursday (TV Asahi)

TOKYO (TR) – One man was confirmed dead after a fire broke out in a bathroom of the headquarters of the Nikkei Shimbun newspaper on Thursday, reports Jiji Press (Dec. 21).

At just before 11:00 a.m., emergency services were tipped off about the outbreak of fire at the headquarters, located in the Otemachi area of Chiyoda Ward. Personnel from 20 fire trucks extinguished the blaze, which broke out inside a men’s toilet on the second floor, after about 50 minutes.

According to the Tokyo Fire Department, a man was found inside a heavily burned stall in the bathroom. He was later confirmed dead at a hospital.

About 30 square meters of space were damaged in the bathroom, the fire department said.

The second floor consists of restaurants and an event space, said a representative of Nikkei Inc., which publishes the Nikkei Shimbun.

A female member of a cleaning crew who was present at the time of the outbreak of fire was quoted by Marunouchi Police Station, “I heard what sounded like a bomb, and then I saw the fire.”