At Least 10 Killed in Nursing Home Fire in Northern Spain

Members of the emergency services and relatives gather outside of a retirement home which caught fire, in Villafranca de Ebro, Zaragoza province, Spain, 15 November 2024. EPA/JAVIER CEBOLLADA

A fire ripped through a retirement home in the town of Villafranca del Ebro in northern Spain early on Friday, killing at least 10 people, the regional government of Aragon said.
The blaze started in a residence for elderly called "Jardines de Villafranca" around 5 a.m. and it took a couple of hours for firefighters to put it out, a spokesperson for the regional government said.
The spokesperson could not specify whether all the victims were residents of the retirement home, where 82 elderly people lived.
One person was in a critical condition, while several people are under care mainly for suffering from smoke inhalation.
Firefighters, who came from the area of Zaragoza, a city 35 km away, ambulances and police are on site, he said. The cause of the fire was still being investigated.
Jorge Azcon, head of the regional government of Aragon, whose capital city is Zaragoza, confirmed the deaths and said on X, formerly Twitter, that all government events in the region were cancelled for the day.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez also expressed shock over the fire and deaths.
The fire took place just weeks after devastating flash floods in Valencia killed more than 200 people and destroyed thousands of homes. The floods were the worst natural disaster in Spain's recent history.