Footage posted to social media has captured the moment school children evacuated through a window of their multi-storey school to escape a fire with thick smoke filling the air
Terrifying footage has captured the moment frightened children escaped from a fire through a window at their school in Japan.
Thefire broke out at Takinogawa Third Elementary School in Kita Ward, Tokyo on Friday, June 19.
In the video circulating on social media, children can be seen clambering out of a window from the fourth floor of the building as smoke engulfs part of the school.
One witness reported seeing several children fall onto the second-floor roof just moments later.
The witness contacted on-site responders.
In the short video, emergency responder sirens can be heard as at least eight children shimmy along a small ledge of the roof to try and reach safety.
Plumes of thick, dark grey smoke bellowed from the windows of the school.
In the distance, another group of people – who appear to be students – can be seen gathering outside the building.
The witness, in a post on X and written in Japanese, said seeing the children could not escape via the evacuation route was terrifying.
He said it appeared that all the children and teachers who escaped through the window were safely evacuated.
One news outlet has reported that 300 people were evacuated and all students and staff are believed to be safe. The Mirror cannot independently verify these claims.
It is not yet clear what caused the blaze.
