Massive fire breaks out at elementary school in Japan’s Tokyo | VIDEO

A massive fire broke out at an elementary school in Tokyo on Friday (Jun 19), injuring 10 people, including eight children and two teachers. According to public broadcaster NHK, all students and school staff were evacuated, and no one was trapped inside. Those injured in the incident were taken to the hospital. Reportedly, 74 fire engines and other vehicles were rushed to the scene to extinguish the fire. The Metropolitan Police Department and other authorities are investigating the cause of the fire.

Videos surfaced showing dozens of firefighters trying to douse the blaze at the school in the northern Kita Ward.

A Tokyo Fire Department official told AFP that it received information about the fire at the school at 10:58 am when someone reported smoke was coming from Takinogawa Third Elementary School, a municipal school in Kita Ward, Tokyo.

The Kita Ward Board of Education said that the fire started in the music room on the fourth floor of the school building in the middle of a 5th-grade music class. It added that children were evacuated to a nearby park after the fire spread to the school’s gymnasium. Some children went home after their parents came to pick them up.

Thick plumes of black smoke were seen coming from near the room. According to NHK, it took about an hour to put out the fire. Until then, approximately 200 square metres were charred. About 360 students and teachers were present inside the school premises at the time of the incident.

Describing the chaos and panic at the school, a 6th-grade girl who was two classrooms away from the music room when the fire broke out, said, “During class, a classmate who was sitting on the corridor side said, ‘It smells like something is burning.’ Then the sirens went off and we hurried up the stairs to evacuate. It was chaotic and scary.”

According to the Kita Ward Board of Education in Tokyo, classes were cancelled on the 19th at Takinogawa Third Elementary School. The after-school childcare program has also been cancelled for the 19th and 20th.