TOKYO (Reuters) - An explosion and fire ripped through a nightclub building in central Tokyo's crowded Shinjuku entertainment district early on Saturday, killing 44 people trapped inside.It was the worst such tragedy to hit Japan in nearly 30 years.
``We confirmed that 44 people perished. We believe that they died either of severe burns or from carbon monoxide poisoning,'' a Shinjuku police spokesman said.
Fire officials said they were investigating whether a gas leak may have been the cause after discovering a broken gas pipe near the apparent source of the explosion.
They said the heavy toll was because the building had only one inside stairway and fire doors did not shut properly.
``If the emergency fire hatches had operated properly, then it would not have been this bad,'' a fire official told a news conference.
The fire gutted the top two floors of the four-story building and caused panic in the small crowded streets packed with people in the popular area for late night drinking and entertainment.
Police said that 32 of the dead were men and 12 were women.
Three men, who had jumped from the blazing building, were injured, but were expected to survive.
``I didn't hear anything at first but then saw a man fall from the third floor then smoke billowed out'' a man in his 50s at a nearby restaurant told Reuters.
Police said the explosion ripped a large hole in the wall of the building.
``I heard glass breaking and saw a man falling. There was another man holding his head in his hands. I didn't think much of it at first but then I heard a loud bang and saw smoke billowing out,'' another witness told NHK television.
BLAST CAME FROM GAMBLING PARLOUR
Police said the blast came from a third-floor parlor providing mah jong games, a popular gambling pastime in Asia. Media said the parlor had about 20 tables and a gas stove in the back to provide food.
The fourth floor was packed with customers at a hostess bar, where patrons pay women to sit with them and serve drinks.
Witnesses said that stunned patrons raced out of the building and some were rescued from the roof by firefighters on ladder trucks.
Authorities said the injured were taken to 22 nearby hospitals.
More than 100 fire trucks and ambulances filled the narrow streets around the building, littered with broken glass and other debris from the building.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi expressed profound sorrow over the heavy death toll.
``I want the parties concerned to thoroughly investigate the cause,'' he said.
The area, known as Kabukicho, is popular for its bars, restaurants and cinemas, but its side streets are packed with sleazy establishments, often involved in the sex and drug business and with ties to Japanese organized crime.
It is regarded as one of the most dangerous in generally crime-free Japan.
The tragedy was the worst to hit Japan in decades.
In 1973, a department store fire in the southern city of Kumamoto killed 104 people.
In Tokyo, 33 people were killed and 29 others injured in a 1982 fire that gutted a hotel in the central Akasaka area.
PHOTO CAPTION:
A policeman stands guard beside fire engines after an explosion and fire ripped through a four-story building housing restaurants and bars in central Tokyo's busy Shinjuku entertainment district September 1, 2001. Twenty one people were killed and 26 injured, police said. (Toshiyuki Aizawa/Reuters)