(13 Sep 2019) A fire raced through a hospital in Rio de Janeiro early Friday, killing at least 11 people, most of them elderly patients. Most of the victims died from asphyxiation as smoke filled the wards, but others died when life support equipment stopped working due to the fire, said Gabriela Graça, Director of the State Institute of Forensic Medicine.
Four firefighters needed treatment after battling the overnight blaze at Badim Hospital, the fire department said.
In the chaos, distraught relatives tried to track down patients, unsure of whether they had perished in the fire or had been transferred to another medical facility.
Carlos Outerelo, 60, was visiting his sick mother - Berta Gonçalves Berreiros Sousa, 93 - when the fire started. She was among the dead.
"They said to stay closed off in the rooms so the smoke couldn't get in, and that it was under control. But in reality, it wasn't under control," he said outside the morgue where his mother's body was brought.
"The smoke started coming from the air conditioning ducts and it turned black and became hard to see," Outerelo said. "It was horrible."
As authorities investigated the cause of the blaze on Friday, a makeshift rope formed from bedsheets still hung from an upper-floor window.
The mayor of Rio de Janeiro has declared three days of official mourning.
Authorities released a list of names of 10 of the dead, some in their 80s and 90s.
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