A real drama. A fire in a retirement home in Villafranca de Ebro, a town in northeastern Spain, killed at least ten people this Friday morning, according to authorities and emergency services. “At least ten people died in the fire in a retirement home” which “occurred at dawn” near Zaragoza, the capital of the Aragon region, emergency services said on X ( ex-Twitter).
According to Spanish media, 82 people were inside the establishment, called Jardines de Villafranca, when the disaster broke out around 5 a.m. for unknown reasons.
The mayor of Villafranca de Ebro, Volga Ramirez Gamiz, told Cadena SER radio that the tragedy began in a resident's room, when a mattress caught fire. “I cannot yet say what the cause of death of each of these 10 people is, as it is under investigation, but in a phenomenon of this nature, the majority of deaths are usually due to l “smoke inhalation,” explained the government delegate in Aragon, Fernando Beltrán.
In a message on X, the president of the Aragonese region, Jorge Azcón, said he was “shocked” by this “tragic fire”. “My deepest condolences to the families of the deceased,” he wrote. “Dismayed by the tragedy that occurred this morning in a retirement home in Zaragoza,” said Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
If the causes of the fire were not yet known this Friday morning, the possible lack of staff in this establishment was highlighted by the authorities, who indicated that only two employees were on site at the time of the disaster. “An investigation is underway, which will lead to the discovery of the origin, reason and circumstances” of the fire, underlined the Minister of Territorial Policy Ángel Víctor Torres on public television TVE, refusing to accept this. stage to decide on this point.
According to authorities, the residents were transferred to other facilities. According to its website, the Jardines de Villafranca residence was inaugurated in 2008. This retirement home had recently specialized in welcoming elderly people with mental health problems.
Several tragic fires have already occurred in recent years in Spanish retirement homes. In January 2022, six elderly people died while sleeping in a medical residence in the town of Moncada, near Valencia. And last February, three people died in a fire at a retirement home in Madrid.
