Pupils rushed to hospital after school fire in Japan's Osaka Prefecture

TOKYO - A number of pupils at an elementary school in Osaka were hospitalized on Friday due to the effects of smoke inhalation after a fire broke out in the school's kitchen, local firefighters and police said.

According to rescue services, as many as 40 pupils had to be rushed to hospital following the fire breaking out in the school's kitchen in the morning and the children suffering from the effects of smoke inhalation and feeling unwell.

The children were all reported to have been conscious when they were rushed away from the school to hospital, although according to eye-witness reports, some of them were crying and lying on the ground when they were rescued.

The fire was extinguished within 10 minutes of it starting by a member of staff at the school, local reports said.

The staff member who extinguished the fire suffered minor burns to his face, the reports said.

Local media also reported that the fire likely started in the school's kitchen where the children's lunches are made, after a pot was left on a stove to overheat.

A sixth grader at the school in Neyagawa, Osaka Prefecture, was quoted by local media as saying that gray smoke was visible and something smelt like it was burning.

"There were kids who were crying and a number of kids were lying on the ground in the gymnasium. It was scary," said the pupil.