Fourteen people have died
after being trapped in a Peruvian drug rehabilitation centre during a
fire, firefighters say, in the second such tragedy this year.
The blaze broke out at the Sacred Heart of Jesus centre, a
two-storey building in the Chosica district, 30km (19 miles) east of the
capital, Lima.
There was only one survivor. The cause of the fire has not yet been confirmed.
A fire swept through another drug clinic in January, killing 27 people.
Fire chief Fernando Campos said 14 bodies had been counted - 13 on the second floor and one on the first floor.
He said firefighters had to use tools to break into the building, as the the main door was padlocked.
"The doors were locked and the windows on the second floor
had bars on them. It wasn't possible for people to get out," he told AFP
news agency.
According to Peruvian media reports, the blaze began at
around 04:00 local time (09:00 GMT) after a patient set fire to a
mattress on the second floor.
It reportedly took two hours for firefighters to bring the blaze under control.
In January's accident, which took place at the unlicensed
Christ Is Love centre in Lima, the doors were also locked, forcing some
to leap from windows in an effort to escape the flames.
The accident prompted calls for better regulation of such
rehabilitation clinics in Peru, where only one in five is believed to be
functioning with a licence.
According to the drug abuse and prevention group Cedro, some
60,000 to 100,000 people are addicted to drugs in Peru, which is one of
the world's leading cocaine producers.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17967855
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