Three people have been found dead after a fire engulfed a house in the city of Niigata, with police investigating the case as a possible group arson-suicide.
According to the police, there were slash wounds on all three bodies found inside the locked house, and nothing to indicate an intruder around the time of the fire early Friday.
The bodies are believed to be those of Hiromi Isobe, 74, his wife in her 60s and their son in his 30s, as the three lived in the house.
Two bodies were found in one room with slash wounds on their heads and upper bodies, while the third body was in a different room with slash wounds on the left arm, police said.
A neighbor of Isobe's reported the fire at around 12:40 a.m. and the blaze was quickly extinguished.