Image copyright Reuters Image caption Firefighters managed to save five of the 16 residents

Eleven people have been killed after a fire at a Japanese residential facility for people in financial difficulty.

TV footage on the country's public broadcaster NHK showed the house engulfed in flames late on Wednesday night.

Of the 16 people living in the home, five were rescued by firefighters battling the blaze.

The three-storey building in the northern city of Sapporo is home to mostly elderly residents.

The home is run by an organisation providing affordable accommodation and helping people on welfare find work, NHK reported.

Authorities have launched an investigation into what caused the fire.

In 2010, seven people were killed in a fire at Sapporo nursing home for the elderly. </s> TOKYO, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Eleven people were killed and five were rescued in a fire at a facility to support senior people on welfare in northern Japan late on Wednesday, public broadcaster NHK said.

The 16 elderly people were living in the three-storey wooden facility in Sapporo, where they paid a monthly rent of 36,000 yen ($330), NHK said on Thursday.

Three of the survivors, aged between their fifties and eighties, were being treated in hospital but their condition was not life-threatening, the broadcaster said.

The facility is run by a Sapporo organisation that helps those who are on a public assistance by providing food and helping them find jobs, NHK said.

In March 2010, seven people at a nursing home for elderly people with dementia were killed in a fire in Sapporo, Kyodo news agency said. </s> A total of 11 people were killed in a fire at a facility to support senior homeless people in Sapporo late Wednesday night, police said Thursday.

The victims were among the 16 residents of the two-story wooden facility run by a local organization that supports homeless people.

The police confirmed five survivors of the fire that broke out at around 11:40 p.m. in a residential area about 500 meters east of a subway station.

A witness said he saw the facility engulfed in flames after hearing loud blast-like sounds more than 10 times.

In Sapporo, there was a fire in March 2010 that killed seven residents of a nursing home for elderly people with dementia. </s> At least three people have died in a fire in a high-rise block of flats in Hawaii.

The blaze at the Marco Polo apartments in the capital Honolulu started on the 26th floor and spread to at least the 27th floor and several flats.

The number of fatalities could change as firefighters said there were reports of people trapped in their apartments.

Paramedics treated several injured people and at least two were in a serious but stable condition in hospital.

Troy Yasuda, who lives in a building across the street, was giving water to people who were evacuated.

"They were choking from the smoke," he said.

Mr Yasuda said he watched people being carried out.

"It's been an orderly evacuation," said security guard Leonard Rosa, who was answering phones from the front lobby of the 31-storey building.

Fourth-floor resident Aaron Dengler and his wife were helping their elderly neighbour get to an aid station the American Red Cross set up at a nearby park.

He said: "It doesn't help to just stand and watch."
Eleven people are killed in a fire at a Japanese residential facility for people in financial difficulty.