Fire at nursing home in China kills 20 elderly residents

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Twenty elderly people were killed in a fire at a nursing home in north China's Hebei province, local officials said on Wednesday.

A total of 39 elderly residents were residing in the building when the blaze broke out around 9 pm on Tuesday (local time) in Longhua County, Chengde City, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The fire was extinguished by around 11 pm.

A total of 20 people have been confirmed dead so far while 19 were sent to a hospital for examination.

Police have detained the person in charge of the nursing home. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, the report said.

Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post quoted Jimu News that the 300-bed Guoen Senior Home had 260 elderly residents at the time of the blaze, based on public records.

Among them were 98 people with total disability and 84 described as semi-disabled. According to the records, the remaining 78 residents were capable of self-care.

According to the licensing record, its business scope was providing accommodation, food, and daycare for the elderly and disabled.

In October, more than 50 officials were punished after they were found to be responsible for a January 2024 fire that killed 39 people and injured nine at a building complex in Xinyu city in the southeast province of Jiangxi.

Investigations showed that the fire was caused by the illegal construction of a cold storage facility in the basement of the building complex, resulting in casualties and a direct economic loss of more than 43.52 million yuan (USD 5.9 million), the Post report said.

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