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TOKYO, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- A fire broke out at a restaurant in central Japan Thursday morning and engulfed over 140 buildings before it stopped spreading in the evening, injuring two people and prompting hundreds to evacuate.
The fire broke out around 10: 30 a.m. local time at a restaurant in downtown Itoigawa, a city of about 45,000 people on the coast of the Sea of Japan in Niigata prefecture.
It spread quickly due to a strong wind, which was observed at a maximum of 24.2 meters per second at noon and 8.2 meters per second at 8: 00 p.m. local time.
Two women in their 40s were injured, one suffering from smoke inhalation and the other sustaining minor injuries in the head after tumbling over while escaping from the fire.
The fire lasted over 10 hours before it stopped spreading, engulfing over 140 buildings, and over 740 people in some 360 households in the vicinity had been advised to evacuate.
It was the most serious fire accident in Japan in 20 years except for the ones caused by earthquakes or tsunamis, according to local reports.
