A fire destroyed a two-story wooden house in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, and left one unidentified body near the front entrance. The five people who live there are all safe and in contact with each other, police said, leaving investigators to work out who died.
A neighbor called 110 shortly before 11 a.m. on Thursday, reporting that a house was burning, according to TV Asahi. The house was gutted. A car parked in front of it burned out as well, and the car does not belong to the family either.
One woman was at home when the fire broke out and escaped unharmed. Police quoted her account of what she saw on her way out.
“As I was running out, I could see just someone's feet at the entrance.”the woman, according to police
Two lines of inquiry
Police are working to identify the dead person and are investigating on the assumption the death could be either a crime or an accident. They have not said how the fire started or whether the body showed signs of injury.