Arrest after 15 dead in video store fire

Updated 11.12 Wed Oct 01 2008

Keywords: Osaka, Japan, fire, killed, arson, video rental

An unemployed man has been arrested after 15 men were killed and ten injured when fire swept through a video rental centre in Japan.

The Preview Room Cats cinema, which describes itself as an "adult video theatre" allows people to hire videos and then watch them in private rooms on the first floor of a seven-storey building in Osaka.

A newspaper was lit in one of the 26 rooms which were in use at the time in the 32-room premises

The arrested man, 46, has admitted to arson. "I got tired of living, so I set a fire," local media quoted him as saying.

A newspaper was lit in one of the 26 rooms which were in use at the time in the 32-room premises. Each has a reclining sofa, TV and video recorder.

About 120 firefighters and 40 fire engines battled the blaze on the first floor of a seven-storey building before dawn, a local fire department spokeswoman said. It was extinguished about 90 minutes later.

Equipped with showers, the theatres are often used as cheap hotels by workers to spend the night if they miss the last train home. At Cats, customers could stay up to 11 hours for 1,500 yen (£8) after 11pm.

The rooms can be locked from the inside and smoking is allowed. Of the shop's 32 rooms, 26 were in use when the fire broke out.