Indonesia fire kills 16 people in nursing home
Firefighters with six trucks needed more than two hours to extinguish the blaze in the city of Manado.
JAKARTA: A fire at a nursing home in the city of Manado on Indonesia's Sulawesi Island has killed 16 people, police said on Monday (Dec 29).
The fire in the single-storey house started on Sunday evening while the residents were asleep.
"The team on the ground has confirmed that the death toll currently is 16," North Sulawesi police spokesperson Alamsyah Hasibuan said. "Fifteen of them were burned to death, while one victim’s body remains intact."
There were 15 survivors who were treated at two hospitals in Manado, Hasibuan said. The bodies of the victims were taken to a hospital for identification with the assistance of their families.
Footage by news channel Metro TV showed the fire blazing through the home, turning the night sky orange, with residents appearing to help one elderly person escape from the burning building.
Body bags were lined up outside the building.
Firefighters with six trucks needed more than two hours to extinguish the blaze after nearby residents reported the fire to emergency services, officials said.
Many bodies of the victims were found inside their rooms, said the city's fire and rescue agency chief Jimmy Rotinsulu.
He added that many of the elderly residents were likely resting in their rooms in the evening when the fire broke out.
On Monday, the destroyed remnants of the home were filled with debris, a Reuters witness said.
Olva Sumual, the home's caretaker, said its residents were the elderly, and about 30 people had been in the complex.
An initial police report said an electrical fault caused the fire but officials later said the cause was still under investigation.
Deadly fires are not uncommon in Indonesia, a Southeast Asian archipelago of more than 17,000 islands.
A fire tore through a seven-storey office building in Indonesia's capital Jakarta this month, killing at least 22 people.
In 2023, at least 12 people were killed in the country's east after an explosion at a nickel-processing plant.
