Tag: arson

Japan police identify suspect in Kyoto anime studio ‘arson attack’

  TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — The horrifying fire at a renowned anime firm which killed dozens in Kyoto is being treated as arson and murder, Japanese police have said, with scores of detectives investigating the deadliest violent crime for decades in the famously safe country. The blaze on Thursday killed 34 people and wounded dozens more at Kyoto Animation — well known among fans across the world for its animations of popular manga works — […]

Shock and grief as details come out on Japan fire that killed dozens at anime company

  by Quentin TYBERGHIEN Agence France Presse KYOTO, Japan (AFP) — Details emerged Friday of the horrifying blaze that ripped through a Japanese anime firm, killing dozens including people who tried in vain to reach the roof, but the motive for the suspected arson remained unclear. Eyewitnesses described a fire that was like “looking at hell”, after a man apparently doused the production company office in the city of Kyoto with flammable liquid and set […]

33 dead in suspected arson attack on Japan animation studio

  by Shingo ITO Agence France Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A suspected arson attack at an animation production company in Japan killed 33 people and injured dozens more on Thursday, after a man reportedly doused the building with flammable liquid and shouted “drop dead.” A motive for the apparent attack remained unclear hours after the blaze. If arson is confirmed, the attack will be among the deadliest criminal acts in decades in Japan, where […]

33 families lose homes in Caloocan fire; BFP says arson possible

(Eagle News)–At least 33 families lost their homes after a fire believed to be intentionally started hit several houses and a motorshop in Caloocan on Friday, March 8. The Bureau of Fire Protection said some witnesses saw clothes soaked in gasoline in different parts of the Dela Cruz compound in Barangay 181, where the fire, which destroyed P500,000 worth of property, broke out past 1 a.m. Authorities believe the blaze started in the motor shop […]

15 killed in knife rampage and arson attack in China

BEIJING, China (AFP) — Fifteen people were killed in China on the night of the Lunar New Year in two family tragedies, after one man started a fire and another went on a knife rampage. As people celebrated to welcome in the  Chinese New Year Monday night, a man surnamed Lu set fire to the home of his brother in the northern province of Shaanxi, killing seven, according to police in the town of Baoji. […]

Updated: Ten dead in possible arson attack at Paris apartment block

by Joseph Schmid and Guillaume Decamme Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — At least 10 people died and 30 were injured in an overnight blaze at an apartment block in Paris that police suspect was deliberately started by a female resident, officials and firefighters said Tuesday. The fire on the upper floors of the building in rue Erlanger in the upmarket 16th district of southwest Paris is the most deadly in the capital since 2005. Dramatic […]

Authorities arrest and question man suspected of throwing Molotov cocktails at INC house of worship in Seattle

  (Eagle News) – Arson detectives are now questioning the man arrested by Seattle police on Tuesday, October 23, suspected to have thrown several Molotov cocktail devices at the house of worship of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church Of Christ) in Seattle’s Rainier Valley district last Thursday, October. 18. In a statement, the police said the suspect was in his 30s. He was arrested “Tuesday evening around 6:30 in South Seattle.” “Arson detectives are currently […]

New York mobster jailed two years after heist acquittal

NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Two years after he was sensationally acquitted of murder and the 1978 Lufthansa heist, New York mobster Vincent Asaro finally got his comeuppance Thursday, sentenced to eight years for arson. Asaro, 82 — a capo from the Bonanno organized crime family — now faces the possibility of spending the rest of his life behind bars for ordering an arson attack on a car in 2012. In June, Asaro, whose […]

Teacher who died saving kids in Brazil fire given award

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil’s President Michel Temer on Sunday honored a nursery school teacher who died while rescuing children from a blaze set deliberately by a security guard, killing nine people. Temer posthumously awarded the National Order of Merit to Heley de Abreu Silva Batista, who “gave her own life to save the lives of her students,” the presidency said in a statement. Batista, 43, worked at the nursery school in Janauba, […]

Nearly 10 anti-migrant attacks a day in Germany: data

BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Germany recorded more than 3,500 attacks against refugees and asylum shelters last year, according to new interior ministry figures, amounting to an average of nearly 10 acts of anti-migrant violence a day. The assaults — coinciding with the country’s bid to cope with a record influx of newcomers — left 560 people injured, 43 of them children, the ministry said in a written reply to a parliamentary question. The government “strongly […]

Arsonists blamed for Spanish wildfires

JAVEA, Spain (AFP) – Spanish authorities on Tuesday blamed arsonists and record temperatures for wildfires ravaging the eastern coast near the popular resort of Benidorm that have forced 1,400 people to flee. Hundreds of firefighters backed by water-dropping aircraft were battling the largest of several fires which began Sunday near the resort of Javea, up the coast from Benidorm on Spain’s Costa Blanca. Another blaze was raging near the mountain town of Bolulla, about 40 kilometres […]