A couple in Japan have died after they became trapped inside a sauna room after a fire broked out.
Yoko Matsuda, a 37-year-old nail artist, and her husband, Masanari, 36, who ran a beauty salon, had booked a private sauna room at Sauna Tiger in Tokyo’s Akasaka district, according to local media.
They were found collapsed on the floor with their heads near the door on Monday and later died in hospital.
Police are looking into whether a faulty door handle had caused the pair to become trapped.
Investigators also found the facility’s emergency alarm system, which included a button in the room, was switched off, and allegedly had been for two years.
In a statement on its website, Sauna Tiger said: ‘We offer our deepest condolences… and our heartfelt sympathies for the deep grief and pain that cannot be expressed in words.’
A burnt towel was reportedly found inside the sauna, suggesting the blaze may have been caused by the towel touching the hot sauna stones, police said.
The cover of the alarm button in the sauna had been removed, indicating the couple had been pushing it to call for help, they added.
Police said that when staff were asked about the alrm system, officers were told it had not been switched on ‘since around 2023’.
The Minato Public Health Centre told The Asahi Shimbun newspaper that the sauna opened in July 2022, and was last inspected in April 2023, when ‘no major deficiencies [were] found in the equipment’.
In its statement, Sauna Tiger said it was taking the incident ‘very seriously,’ and ‘cooperating fully with the investigations by the fire department’.
It added that the facility would be ‘closed for the time being’ and offered refunds to any customers with reservations.
Saunas, especially hiring private sauna rooms, have become increasingly popular since the Pandemic.
However, it has coincided with a rise in sauna-related incidents, prompting calls for greater industry regulation.
In 2017, a mother and her daughter were found dead in a sauna in Prague after the door handle fell off and they were trapped inside.
The women, aged 65 and 45, were using a sauna at a friend’s place and were stuck inside for 90 minutes.
They had tried and failed to break the window of the door in order to try and escape the extreme heat.
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