A violent fire left ten people dead and two seriously injured on Friday in a residence housing elderly people and patients with mental disorders in a village near Zaragoza, in northeastern Spain.
A violent fire left ten people dead and two seriously injured on Friday in a residence housing elderly people and patients with mental disorders in a village near Zaragoza, in northeastern Spain.
According to the authorities, the fire broke out around 5 a.m. in a retirement home in Villafranca de Ebro, a town of 840 inhabitants located in the heart of the Aragon region. The cause of the incident is not yet known.
A total of 82 people were in the residence, called Jardines de Villafranca, when the fire broke out. According to the Minister of Territorial Policy Ángel Víctor Torres, the disaster left “10 dead and two injured”, hospitalized “in critical condition”.
A mattress could have caught fire
“When we arrived, the evacuation of residents had already begun. We completed this evacuation and extinguished the fire,” Eduardo Sanchez, head of fire and civil protection in Zaragoza, told journalists.
The mayor of Villafranca de Ebro, Volga Ramirez Gamiz, said the fire apparently started in a resident’s room. According to the first elements of the investigation, it was a mattress which could have caught fire, she said on Cadena Ser radio.
“I cannot yet say what is the cause of the death of each of these 10 people, because it is the subject of an investigation,” assured the government delegate in Aragon, Fernando Beltrán, questioned by journalists at the scene of the disaster.
Victims unable to move from their beds
“But in a phenomenon of this nature, the majority of deaths are generally due to smoke inhalation,” he added, specifying that the residence accommodated people suffering from “reduced mobility or a pathology.
During the fire, the victims “were in their beds, unable to move. They were caught in the smoke”, confirmed Eduardo Sanchez, specifying that the area where the fire broke out had a cut-off door. -fire, thanks to which “half the building was safe”.
Only two employees present
The Jardines de Villafranca residence, a one-story brick building, was opened in 2008, according to information posted on its website. This retirement home has recently also specialized in welcoming people suffering from mental health problems.
This residence welcomes “people from all backgrounds”, confirmed the mayor of Villafranca de Ebro. “It’s not just elderly people, there are young people who have mental problems”, some aged “as young as 25”, she said.
Residents transferred
According to authorities, the residents were transferred to other facilities.
If the causes of the fire were not yet known 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.
Questioned by public television TVE, Ángel Víctor Torres refused to comment, assuring that the investigation should clarify the circumstances of the fire. What is certain is that “there can be no” budgetary “cuts when it comes to elderly people”, he said.
In a message on X, the president of the Aragonese region, Jorge Azcón, said he was “shocked” by this “tragic fire”. “My most sincere condolences to the families of the deceased,” wrote the conservative leader, who announced a day of mourning on Saturday.
“All my affection to the families and colleagues of the deceased, to the workers of the center and to all the Aragonese people. I hope that those in serious condition will recover as quickly as possible”, reacted for his part the Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
Several tragic fires have already occurred in recent years in Spanish retirement homes. In January 2022, nine 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.
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