SAEDNEWS: A fire at a nursing home on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi killed more than a dozen people, with three others injured, a local official said Monday.
Firefighters received a report of a blaze at 8:31 p.m. on Sunday at a nursing home in Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi province, according to Jimmy Rotinsulu, head of the city’s fire and rescue agency.
“There were 16 deaths; three people suffered burn injuries,” he told AFP.
Many of the victims’ bodies were found inside their rooms. Jimmy noted that many elderly residents were likely resting in their rooms when the fire broke out.
Authorities evacuated 12 people, all unharmed, and transferred them to a local hospital.
Footage broadcast by Metro TV showed flames engulfing the nursing home, while local residents assisted in evacuating an elderly person.
Deadly fires are not uncommon in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands. Earlier this month, a fire in a seven-story office building in Jakarta killed at least 22 people. In 2023, an explosion at a nickel-processing plant in the country’s east claimed at least 12 lives.
