Uruguay: 10 dead in fire breakout at elderly healthcare facility

Uruguay: On Sunday, July 7, a nursing home in Uruguay got in the grasp of a fire early morning with caused the death of ten elderly residents who were admitted in the facility. The lone survivor of the incident was the caretaker who managed to escape in time.

The authorities stated that the nursing home was situated in the city of Treinta-y-Tres, in the eastern part of South America, and comprised of six rooms in which a total of eight female and two male patients were admitted. Unfortunately, none of the patients could be saved, and eventually died from the smoke and blaze.

Firefighters and experts from the Montevideo Casualty Investigation Department were dispatched to provide assistance, and to investigate the cause of the outbreak of the fire. The firefighters reported that on reaching the spot they found the main entrance completely shuttered.

They added that on entering the facility, they were further inside to find the living room engulfed in fire and smoke spread throughout the area. The nursing home had a 20-year-old caretaker, who managed to escape the fire safely through a garage and was the only survivor.

The authorities stated that seven of the residents died on the scene itself due to the heat and smoke inhalation, while the other three were immediately rushed to the hospital but couldn’t survive, their health condition being critical.

A similar incident was reported about ten days prior to this at another nursing home meant for the people with psychiatric disorders and for the elderly people in the city of Melo, also in the east of Uruguay.

During that incident, an evacuation process was done for forty of the residents, out of which a 77-year-old man and a 72-year-old woman lost their life later in the hospital.

Within a span of 10 days, the region faced two fire incidents that led to the death of 12 elderly people and several injured.

Uruguay’s population is about 3.4million out of which sixteen percent of them are over the age of 65 years, a proportion that is seen growing over the time.