TOKYO, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Four people were killed and some 40 people sustained injuries after a fire broke out Thursday at a construction site in suburban Tokyo.
Among the 40 injured, 22 of them sustained severe injuries, according to local fire department.
The Tokyo Fire Department said that it received an emergency call at around 1:50 p.m. local time (0450 GMT) about a fire at a site where a building is under construction in the city of Tama, Tokyo Metropolis.
Some 300 workers were at the site when the fire broke out, and according to local police, the fire seems to have started when workers were cutting iron frames and sparkles lit up insulation materials.
Some 60 ambulances and fire trucks were rushed to the site to extinguish the fire.
Workers who have survived the fire said that black smoke blocked their views when they tried to escape from the fire site, and police said there might still be one person trapped in one of the basement floors.
The construction of the seven-story building, with three stories above ground and four underground, started in October 2016 and was scheduled to finish in September this year.
The fire site was about one km from a train station which is surrounded by large commercial facilities.
