Gifu – Arson was suspected after a fire broke out at a cake shop in Motosu, Gifu Prefecture, on Saturday night, with two bodies later found at the site, according to local authorities.
Three other people were sent to hospital, with one later confirmed dead.
The fire at the Sunrise confectionery shop started at around 9 p.m. Saturday. A person at the scene made an emergency call to police, saying: “Someone was stabbed. Gasoline was sprayed, and a fire broke out.”
The Gifu Prefectural Police department is investigating the incident.
According to investigative sources, the person who was confirmed dead at the hospital, a 70-year-old male corporate executive from the Gifu city of Mizuho, may have been involved in the incident.
The other two people sent to the hospital were Satomi Sono, the 66-year-old manager of the cake shop, and a 65-year-old man from Mizuho. Their conditions are unknown.
At the time of the incident, there were a total of 11 people at the cake shop,?including Sono and acquaintances.
The police are able to contact the remaining six people and are asking them about the situation.
The fire was extinguished about three hours later. About 300 square meters of the steel-framed, mixed-use two-story building were burned.
The shop had already ended the day’s operations when the fire broke out. The police are investigating a possibility that some kind of problem occurred during a gathering that was being held at the shop among Sono and her former classmates.
The cake shop, which also had an eat-in area, was celebrating its 20th anniversary, according to its website. The site in a residential area is about 1 kilometer southwest of Tarumi Railway’s Kitagata Makuwa Station.
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