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Man, 32, admits torching Ibaraki flat with wife, kids inside; six found dead

Oct 06, 2017 (Japan Times) - Six people were found dead after a fire engulfed an apartment in Ibaraki Prefecture early Friday morning, and a 32-year-old man who claimed to have deliberately started the blaze turned himself in to police.

The fire was extinguished at around 5:50 a.m. about an hour after it started at the three-story building in Hitachi, Ibaraki Prefecture. While the bodies of four boys and a woman were found at the site, a girl was confirmed dead after being taken to a hospital, firefighters said.

According to the police, the bodies are believed to be those of the man's wife, his two 3-year-old sons, a 4-year-old son, a 6-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter. The six have been unreachable since the fire. They were living in the unit where the fire started, the police said.

The man, who claims to be a company employee, turned himself in at a police station in Hitachi, saying, "I set fire to my house," according to the police.

Source: ANNnewsCH

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