Tokyo, Jan 22 (IANS): Four people were killed while as many feared dead after a fire broke out early Sunday at an apartment in Japan's Kobe city, local media said.
Firefighters received a call around 1.35 a.m. local time saying that black smoke was coming out of a window on the first floor of a three-story housing complex in Hyogo Ward of Kobe, Kyodo News reported.
Four men were confirmed dead at the scene, the report said, citing police and other sources, adding that four other men who were taken to a hospital were all unconscious, Xinhua News Agency reported quoting Kyodo News.
All the eight individuals were found on the first floor of the apartment, it said.
The fire was mostly put out after about an hour.
A total of 60 square meters of the first and second floors of the 300-square-meters building were burned, according to Kyodo News.