Mexicali Nursing Home Fire Kills 16 Elderly Residents, Injures 5 Others The Associated Press
go to original June 24, 2015

16 people died in a fire at the “Beautiful Sunrise” nursing home in Mexicali, Baja California Tuesday night. (Ruptly TV)

Associated Press Update: Toll in Mexico Nursing Home Fire Rises to 17, Arson Possible

A fire swept through a retirement home for poor people Tuesday, killing 16 elderly residents at the facility outside the northern border city of Mexicali, the mayor's office said.

Five other residents were reported in serious condition after being taken to a hospital in nearby Mexicali, which sits across the border from Calexico, California.

Mayor Jaime Diaz Ochoa said the cause of the blaze at the Hermoso Atardecer (Beautiful Sunset) retirement home was being investigated by the state prosecutors' office. The mayor's office said that 12 fire extinguishers and eight smoke detectors had been found at the home and that the nonprofit facility in a rural area about a half-hour drive from Mexicali had not been overcrowded.

Diaz Ochoa said 23 residents had been taken to a temporary city shelter and would be referred to a city elderly care center. He said most were apparently over 75 years old. The nursing home housed poor, abandoned or formerly homeless elderly people.

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