Fire trucks are seen in this unrelated photo. (Mainichi)
KYOTO (Kyodo) — Some 120 guests staying at a hotel in Kyoto were temporarily evacuated after a charging portable battery caught fire, according to local police and the fire department, just two months after a similar incident in the area.
Emergency services received a call around 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday that a power bank had caught fire in a room on the fourth floor of a 10-story hotel located west of Kyoto City Hall.
A hotel employee in her 20s was sent to a hospital with smoke inhalation, but her condition was not life-threatening, they said.
A guest in her 30s from China was charging her digital camera when it caught fire. She threw water on the flames to no avail, prompting the employee to use an extinguisher to put out the fire.
The incident follows the brief evacuation of guests at a hotel near JR Kyoto Station on Oct. 6 due to a fire. No injuries were reported, and it was believed to have been caused by a portable battery charger.
The Japanese government said in October that there were 2,350 accidents, including fires, involving lithium-ion batteries over the five years through fiscal 2024. Portable batteries were involved in around 300 cases.
AloJapan.com