A MAN seen as a potential suspect in a fatal fire at a mental health clinic in Osaka, Japan, is in critical condition today, said reports, a day after the inferno claimed 24 lives.

The 61-year-old former patient of the clinic is being treated in hospital, reported public broadcaster NHK, citing police sources.

The fire raged for half an hour yesterday morning, gutting the fourth floor of the narrow commercial building where the clinic, which also provides general medical care, is located.

Police are investigating a link with a small fire that occurred at the man’s home 30 minutes earlier, said NHK and the Asahi Shimbun daily.

A fire department official confirmed the death toll of the clinic fire, which police are reportedly treating as possible arson.

“A total of 24 people died and four injured. Whether their condition is critical or not is unclear,” the official told AFP.

Japanese media said most of the victims were believed to have suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning, and may have been trapped inside the unit with the exit blocked.

Some patients saw a man placing a paper bag containing a flammable liquid next to a heater, which he then kicked over to ignite, said the reports.

The father of the doctor who runs the clinic said he does not know if his son is among the dead.

“I hope (my son) is safe and alive. That is all I want,” he said, in comments reported by major newspapers.

The father said his son had been having a hard time, with many patients wanting certificates to apply for unemployment insurance.

Osaka is a major economic hub and the country’s second-biggest metropolis after the greater Tokyo region.

Deadly fires are unusual in Japan, which has strict building standards, and brutal crimes are rare.

A man was charged with murder a year ago over an arson attack on an animation studio in Kyoto in 2019 that killed 36 people in the deadliest violent crime in decades in the country.

The attack sent shockwaves through the anime industry and its fans in Japan and around the world.

In recent months, there has been a string of assaults involving fire and knives on and around the train network in the country.

A 24-year-old man was arrested in Tokyo on Halloween for attempted murder, after he allegedly stabbed a passenger and started a fire inside a moving train, wearing an outfit reminiscent of infamous comic villain The Joker.

That incident reportedly inspired an elderly man to try to start a fire inside a running bullet train in the south-western Kyushu region. No injuries have been reported. – AFP, December 18, 2021.