Reunion Island. Clinic fire kills two

Two clinic patients died and another was injured Saturday night in a fire of unknown origin in Saint-Pierre, south of Reunion Island, authorities and close sources said. investigators.

The fire broke out around 7:30 p.m. on the first floor of the Bethesda Clinic, a health care facility that specializes in surveillance and rehabilitation care. The two victims, two women whose room was on the first floor of the facility, died of smoke inhalation from the fire, a source close to the investigators told AFP.

According to the first report released by the prefecture, the victim was taken to the University Hospital Center (CHU), while a police officer and six clinic staff were made uncomfortable by the fumes. A”A judicial investigation has been launched into the case of intentional arson and premeditated murderSaint-Pierre prosecutor Carolyn Calbo said in a statement released early Sunday evening.

The patient is on fire

He also clarified that the dead patients were 72 and 87 years old and not in their sixties, as a source close to the investigators initially stated. The patient in the first burned room was evacuated under the conditions of a relative emergency.”was hospitalized overnight for smoke inhalationand has not yet been heard from by investigators, Caroline Calbott added.

According to the public TV channel Meeting on the 1st, allegedly the cause of the disaster was the patient who set fire to his room, facts that the prosecutor has not confirmed at the moment. “At the time of the fire, there were 88 patients in the clinicSylvie Klein Vitry, deputy CEO of the Iris Santé group, which owns the clinic, also mentioned to the press on Sunday. Everyone was evacuated. “22 of them were transferred to other clinicsothers from the island were transferred to the facility, he added.

The investigation was entrusted to departmental security. Autopsies will be conducted to find out the causes of death of the victims. “The causes of the fire have not yet been determined.“, the prefecture stated in a press release published on Saturday night. The clinic was opened in 2015.