Six people die in a fire at a nursing home in Milan

Firefighters' rescue efforts at Casa dei Coniugi were particularly difficult due to heavy smoke. Photo: ANDREA FASANI/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Six people were killed and about 80 were hospitalized in a fire at a nursing home in Milan, which, according to eyewitnesses, the elderly residents were trapped inside a smoky building and suffocated through the windows .

The fire broke out early Friday morning in a room on the first floor of the Casa dei Coniugi, or House of Consorts, in the south of the city.

It was quickly extinguished, but two residents died in the fire and four died from smoke poisoning , Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala told reporters outside a nursing home.

“Things could have been a lot worse. Having said that, six deaths is a very high number of deaths,” said Mr. Sala, adding that 167 people lived in the facility.

Although the fire was extinguished before it could spread, it created clouds of smoke that forced dozens of elderly residents to be hospitalized.

The fire started early Friday morning. Credit: CLAUDIA GRECO/REUTERS

Two of them are in critical condition, Mr Sala said, adding that authorities are working to quickly find housing for the rest. guests.

The Milan prosecutor's office launched an investigation to find out the cause of the fire.

“We can say with certainty that the fire started on the bed because that is where the most fire damage is,” said Milan prosecutor Tiziana Siciliano. «It's impossible to say at this time what caused it.»

A fire official said rescue efforts were particularly difficult due to heavy smoke that limited visibility. He added that many residents cannot provide for themselves and cannot stand without assistance, and many of them had to be evacuated in wheelchairs.

Lucia, a woman who lives near the facility, said she was witnessed the rescue of residents by firefighters and civil protection workers who arrived on the scene shortly after the fire broke out.

“We saw elderly people at the windows gasping for air, with their faces covered with rags and bottles in their hands. water,” she said.

She said the lifeguards “behaved great” helping everyone. “Those who could walk were taken out, those who could not, I think, were carried out in sheets,” she said.