Tokyo blaze 'began when rubbish caught fire'
Tokyo police believe a fire which killed 44 people in a four-storey building could have been caused by rubbish in a stairway catching fire.
The blaze swept through the top two floors of the building in Tokyo's rowdiest entertainment district early on Saturday morning.
Officials have yet to determine the cause of the tragedy but believe the fire may have broken out near a stairway outside a cramped mahjong club on the third floor of the building.
Police have finished the gruesome task of identifying all 44 victims of the blaze, most of whom died of smoke inhalation. Many were in their 20s and 30s.
Reports said that investigators had learned that the club's owners threw old newspapers, used hand towels and other inflammable garbage in the stairway.
They suspect something may have ignited the trash and their investigation will focus on analysing ashes collected from the stairway, the reports said.
Speculation is mounting that arson may have been behind the blaze, the deadliest in this country since 45 people were killed in a fire in 1980 at a hotel in northeastern Japan.
The Japanese media have also reported that the mahjong club may have had trouble of some sort with gangsters and that police were looking into whether the fire may have been related to that.
Reports said that the club operated slot machines and that employees told investigators that they had unspecified difficulties with organised crime groups, who are heavily involved in gambling in Japan.
Police have refused to comment on the possibility that the fire was deliberate, though they say they have not ruled that out.
They also refused to comment on whether they suspected gangster involvement.
