Naharnet

At Least 26 Killed in Peru Drug Rehab Center Fire

A fire in a drug rehabilitation center in a densely populated area of Lima Saturday has killed at least 26 people and injured 12 others, authorities said.

Antonio Zavala, the commandant of the fire department, said the blaze broke out on the first floor of the center when a patient's mattress caught fire.

At least three of the injured were in "very, very serious" condition, Health Minister Javier Correa said.

A police spokesman told RPP radio said the deaths occurred because doors to rooms where some 40 patients were having breakfast were closed and they could not open them.

One of the survivors told the radio station that he managed to escape the inferno by jumping from the second floor of the burning building.

"I could just see smoke and hear screams," he said.

Paramedics and firefighters were on the scene in Lima's San Juan de Lurigancho neighborhood, and the injured were being taken to hospitals, the Health Ministry said.

Source: Agence France Presse


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