Fire at Mexico nursing home kills 16, injures 5

A fire ripped through a nursing home in Mexicali, Mexico City, this week, killing 16 residents and injuring five others, according to the city's local news channel. Mexicali sits across the border from Calexico, Calif. The home housed poor, abandoned or formerly homeless older adults.

Mayor Jaime Diaz Ochoa told KSWO News 7 the cause of the fire at Hermoso Atardecer (Spanish for "beautiful sunset") was still under investigation. Ochoa noted that the nursing home had 12 fire extinguishers and eight smoke detectors. 

23 residents were taken to a temporary city shelter and would be referred to a city elderly care center, Ochoa told News 7. They were all over 75 years old.

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Megan Combs

Megan Combs was Associate Editor of I Advance Senior Care / Long Term Living from 2013-2018.