Sayeed Muhammad: At least 10 elderly women were killed as a fire swept through a nursing home in southern Chile on Tuesday.
Investigators were trying to determine the cause of the fire that broke out around 3 am in the women’s dormitory at the Santa Marta nursing home in Chiguayante, reports AP.
The area is about 320 miles (520 kilometers) south of the Chilean capital, while only three elderly women were rescued from the burning room, with one of them being hospitalised.
Photos carried by the 24 Horas television station website show the women’s wing burnt to the ground, with a few metal bed frames amid the charred ruins.
Bio Bio region Gov. Jorge Ulloa said staff at the home had checked the room 10 or 12 minutes before the fire “and didn’t find anything”. He said the doors to the dormitory were open, in line with regulations.
Prosecutor Michelangelo Bianchi, in charge of the investigation, told local news media that witnesses reported hearing an explosion similar to the sound of a short circuit.
Officials released the names of the women, but other details could not be obtained immediately available.
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