A fire in a retirement home in Villafranca de Ebro, a town in northeastern Spain, has killed at least ten people. Spainhas claimed at least ten lives, local emergency services announced on Friday December 15. “At least ten people dead in nursing home fire” which “happened at dawn” near Zaragoza, the capital of the Aragon region, said the emergency services on X.

The fire broke out in a residence for the elderly called “Jardines de Villafranca” at around 5 a.m. (4 a.m. GMT) and it took firefighters two hours to extinguish it, said a spokesman for the regional government of Aragon.

The spokesman was unable to say whether all the victims were residents of the retirement home, where 82 elderly people lived. One person is in critical condition, while several people are being treated, mainly for smoke inhalation. Firefighters from the Zaragoza region, ambulances and police are on the scene. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

“My sincerest condolences to the families of the deceased”

The mayor of Villafranca de Ebro, Volga Ramirez Gamiz, told Cadena SER radio that the tragedy began in a resident’s bedroom, when a mattress caught fire.

“I can’t yet say what the cause of death was for each of these 10 people, because that’s under investigation, but in a phenomenon of this nature, the bulk of deaths are usually due to smoke inhalation.”explained Fernando Beltrán, the government delegate for Aragon. In a message on X, the president of the Aragon region, Jorge Azcón, said “shocked” by this “tragic fire”. “My sincerest condolences to the families of the deceased”he wrote.

According to its website, the Jardines de Villafranca residence was inaugurated in 2008. This retirement home had recently specialized in accommodating elderly people with mental health problems.