Emergency services and relatives outside a care home in Villafranca de Ebro, near Zaragoza, where 10 people were killed in a fire early Friday. Photo by Javier Cebollada/EPA-EFE
At least 10 people were killed Friday and two people injured, one of them critically, in a fire at a care home in Villafranca de Ebro in Spain’s northeastern Aragon region, Spanish authorities said.
The blaze broke out at the residential facility for 69 people with dementia and mental health conditions in the early hours but firefighters were able to quickly bring it under control with smoke inhalation being blamed for the high casualty toll. Advertisement
Volga Ramirez, the mayor of Villafranca de Ebro, 170 miles east of Barcelona, said her husband attempted to rescue residents but was beaten back by dense smoke that made it impossible to breathe.
Ramirez said the blaze may have been caused by a mattress that caught alight in one of the rooms in the single-story building, although the cause is still under investigation by authorities.
Aragon regional government delegate, Fernando Beltran, who traveled to the scene Friday morning told reporters that the incident was “devastating.”
“A corresponding judicial investigation has been opened to find out the causes of the fire,”El Pais quoted him as saying.
“In addition to the judicial police of Zaragoza, technical infrastructure resources from the Civil Guard, who have the technical equipment in Logrono, will be deployed to carry out all the expert investigations on the origin of the fire and how the spread occurred.” Advertisement
According to Beltran, none of the home’s staff were hurt in the fire which he confirmed broke out “in one of the rooms of the residence.”
He added that fatalities in these types of fire were usually due to smoke inhalation, but stressed that it was still too early to determine the circumstances under which the 10 victims lost their lives.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he had been left in shock by the tragedy and that he had spoken on the phone with Aragon President Jorge Azcon.
“I convey all my love and condolences to the families and colleagues of the deceased, to the workers of the center and to all the Aragonese,” he wrote in a post on X.
“I hope that those who are in serious condition in hospital recover as soon as possible.”
In 2015, nine seniors died after fire swept through another care home in nearby Santa Fe after a resident set a mattress alight.
