The fire began on the evening of Nov. 18, in a residential area in Saganoseki district, 478 miles southwest of Tokyo

THIS is the moment a fire tears through a coastal district in Japan, killing at least one person and obliterating more than 170 buildings. The inferno erupted on Tuesday evening in Oita

A fire ripped through more than 170 buildings and killed one person in a southern Japanese coastal city on Wednesday, with military and firefighting helicopters scrambling to extinguish the country's largest urban blaze in almost half a century.

At least 170 buildings in Japan's southern city of Oita were affected by the fire. TOKYO: One person was unaccounted for while 175 others were evacuated as a major fire engulfed a residential area in Japan, the local government said Wednesday (Nov 19).

A fire has ripped through more than 170 buildings in a southern Japanese coastal city, burning overnight and still not fully extinguished, the national fire agency said on Wednesday.

Firefighters have been battling an extensive fire in Oita Prefecture, southwestern Japan. Prefectural authorities say more than 170 houses and other buildings have been burned and a man in his 70s has been unaccounted for.