Fire in Peruvian drug rehab centre kills 26, injures 13

Jan 29, 2012, 11:13 GMT

Lima - At least 26 people died and 13 were injured Saturday in a fire at a drug rehabilitation centre in Lima, the Fire Department said.

Peruvian Fire Department commander Antonio Zavala said that 22 people died at the centre in San Juan de Lurigancho, a densely populated, impoverished neighbourhood in north-eastern Lima. Four others died later in hospital of their injuries.

Most of the deaths were from suffocation.

Among the injured were two firefighters who were attacked by patients.

What appeared to be a minor fire became a disaster when security gates hindered firefighters. The building was full of gates, and rescue workers even broke through walls because it was quicker than opening the gates.

The fire was confined to the first floor of the building. The second floor was unaffected by the flames, as were nearby homes.

Two men who were apparently guarding the facility on the ground floor were among the dead.

Zavala said there was no immediate information on the cause of the fire, and that police had launched a probe.

Two patients who escaped the fire unharmed said the disaster was caused by an escape attempt by a man who was taken to the centre by his family on Friday. To wreak havoc, patients burnt mattresses, and the fire got out of control, and they could not open the gates, the survivors said.

Witnesses said patients bashed locks in their effort to escape but only made it impossible for the facility's keys to work from the outside.

The investigation is expected to examine why second-floor patients sought to prevent rescue workers from entering the building by throwing objects at them, Zavala said.

The crowded rehab centre's licence had been suspended twice by the San Juan de Lurigancho municipality for not meeting safety requirements, and it had re-opened weeks ago, reportedly without a valid licence.

Peru has many unlicences centres claiming to rehabilitate alcoholics and drug addicts. Many such facilities lack qualified personnel and subject patients to strict security measures in violation of fundamental rights.

The two patients who spoke to reporters denied abuse, but they said the centre - which engaged in 'Biblical therapy' to overcome addiction - held 70 patients at the time of the fire. They were age 13-68, but were mostly in their 20s.