Woman in Japan, trapped by fire, panics, kicks firefighter, & falls off balcony

A woman who was trapped on the balcony of her apartment during a fire in Japan was so terrified that she not only refused rescue, but also kicked a firefighter off the ladder at a critical moment.

The 26-year-old subsequently fell off herself, despite the firefighters' attempts to help her.

The emergency call for help was made at around 7am on Nov. 14 in Higashiyodogawa Ward in Osaka.

It is alleged that the woman started the fire while cooking eggs.

22 fire trucks dispatched

According to the police, the fire occurred in a single room on the second floor of a four-storey reinforced concrete apartment building.

The flames likely spread to surrounding objects, setting 12 square metres of the apartment ablaze, reported Yahoo News Japan.

22 fire trucks were dispatched.

In the now-viral video, the terrified woman could be seen sitting on the balcony ledge in her pyjamas.

In her panic, she refused to heed the firefighter's instructions to edge closer to him, while small explosions went off in the background.

The situation took a sharp turn for the worse as the woman, seemingly overwhelmed with fear, started screaming and struggling.

As more firefighters set up a second ladder to reach her, the woman attempted to climb down but slipped and wound up caught between the steps.

She tried to turn her body around, before suddenly kicking the ladder and sending a firefighter falling to the ground.

The woman continued kicking the ladder away as firefighters attempted to reposition it.

She then lost her footing and fell face first as a rescuer tried to grab onto her sleeve.

Paramedics were subsequently seen surrounding the woman.

She reportedly suffered minor injuries to her legs and chin from her fall.

Netizens weigh in

Despite comments criticising the woman, the author of the post, who worked in the opposite building, expressed sympathy.

The author called her reaction "completely natural", as someone who witnessed the incident firsthand.

"Anyone can panic in a situation like that. This really reminded me how difficult rescue work is.

I posted the video hoping it would remind everyone to take fire safety seriously."

Other commenters suggested that she might have been unable to hear over the noise, or struggled to understand due to a language barrier.

"Maybe she’s a foreigner? She lives alone in a 1K apartment with the washing machine on the balcony?" one asked.

"In the first part of the conversation, it sounded like her Japanese was broken, so I thought maybe they weren’t communicating well," another pointed out.

Some media outlets also echoed this sentiment and claimed that the woman was a Chinese national, according to Sin Chew Daily.

Japanese police have urged the public to avoid speculation and await the full results of their investigation.

Top image from @vw908kk/X