Tragic welfare home fire in Sapporo, Japan kills 11

After a fire ripped through a Japanese residential facility – put in place for people in financial difficulty – on the 31st January, 11 people have lost their lives.
TV footage from the country’s public broadcaster, NHK, showed the house completely taken over by flames, and of the 16 people that were living at the home, just five were successfully rescued by firefighters battling the fire.
The three-storey building, which is located in the northern city of Sapporo, was the home for mostly elderly residents.
NHK reported that the home is run by an organisation who provide affordable accommodation for people, while also helping people on welfare find work.
Authorities have launched a formal investigation into the cause of the blaze, which evoked memories of a fire in 2010, when a fire killed seven people at a Sapporo nursing home for the elderly.