TOKYO - A fire broke out Friday at an elementary school in Tokyo, injuring eight pupils and two teachers before being extinguished, authorities said.
Most of the 10 injured suffered from inhaling smoke at the school in Kita Ward, they said, adding that four people required rescue from inside the school building.
The fire was reported around 11 a.m., according to the local fire department. It started in a room next to the music room on the fourth floor of the school building and was extinguished at around 1:45 p.m.
About 340 students attend the ward-run school, according to its website.
Classes were being held when the fire broke out and fifth-grade pupils were receiving a lesson in the music room. They and other students evacuated to the schoolyard while wearing protective hoods kept for disasters, the authorities said.
Part of a wall on the fourth floor was blackened and charred, they said.
An 11-year-old boy who was taking a class in English when the fire started said, "We called out 'Calm down' with teachers but it was very scary."
An employee of a company close to the school, 58, said, "I was surprised by a fire alarm and watched outside to find many pupils in the schoolyard. Red flames were emerging from the school and the sky became completely black due to the smoke."
