TOKYO — A fire engulfed a group home for welfare recipients in northern Japan, killing 11 people and injuring three, police and fire officials said Thursday. Fire department officials said the residents were in their 40s to 80s, though most were elderly. Most of the residents received welfare and paid 36,000 yen ($330) for monthly rent, Kyodo News agency said. Fire department officials said the damage was worst at the centre of the first floor, where the kitchen, bathrooms and several guest rooms were. More than 30,000 welfare recipients lived at nearly 1,800 such facilities as of 2015, about two thirds of them unauthorized, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

Source: National Post February 01, 2018 01:36 UTC