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12 July 2024
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Uruguay nursing home fire claims 10 lives
Ten seniors living in a small Uruguayan nursing home died after an early morning fire broke out at the facility on Sunday, 7 July 2024. Firefighters were able to evacuate the residents on Sunday after the fire broke out around 06h00 am in the city of Treintay Tres, some 290 kilometres northeast of the capital Montevideo. Firefighters found the main entrance shuttered on their arrival, it added.
Once inside, they found a fire in the living room with smoke having spread throughout the facility. But "despite their efforts, seven of them died due to smoke intoxication," the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Three others were taken to hospital in serious condition and later died.
A 20-year-old employee was able to escape the fire, authorities said.
The six-room building was located in the centre of the city.
A fire investigation team has been sent from Montevideo to assess the incident. Karina Rando, Uruguay’s public health minister, told reporters the fire appeared to be an accident, adding that a heating appliance was not ruled out as a possible cause.
“It was an establishment that was in a very good condition, which had undergone recent inspections with only minor remarks,” Rando said of the facility.
The incident came just 10 days after a fire at another nursing home for the elderly and people with psychiatric disorders in the city of Melo, also in Uruguay’s east.
In that case, a 77-year-old man and 72-year-old woman died in hospital after they were evacuated with 40 other residents.
16 percent of Uruguay’s 3,4 million inhabitants is over the age of 65, a proportion that is growing.
Sources: ARY News, Associated Press
Once inside, they found a fire in the living room with smoke having spread throughout the facility. But "despite their efforts, seven of them died due to smoke intoxication," the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Three others were taken to hospital in serious condition and later died.
A 20-year-old employee was able to escape the fire, authorities said.
The six-room building was located in the centre of the city.
A fire investigation team has been sent from Montevideo to assess the incident. Karina Rando, Uruguay’s public health minister, told reporters the fire appeared to be an accident, adding that a heating appliance was not ruled out as a possible cause.
“It was an establishment that was in a very good condition, which had undergone recent inspections with only minor remarks,” Rando said of the facility.
The incident came just 10 days after a fire at another nursing home for the elderly and people with psychiatric disorders in the city of Melo, also in Uruguay’s east.
In that case, a 77-year-old man and 72-year-old woman died in hospital after they were evacuated with 40 other residents.
16 percent of Uruguay’s 3,4 million inhabitants is over the age of 65, a proportion that is growing.
Sources: ARY News, Associated Press