Sri Lanka Care Home Fire Leaves Five Dead

Sri Lanka Care Home Fire Leaves Five Dead Sri Lanka Care Home Fire Leaves Five Dead
Sri Lanka Care Home Fire Leaves Five Dead. Credit: LankaNews.

At least five people have died after a fire gutted an elder care home in Sri Lanka on Wednesday, police said, while six others remain missing.

The blaze broke out at a facility in Batagoda, south of the capital Colombo, before firefighters arrived and recovered the charred remains of the victims.

Sri Lanka Care Home Fire Leaves Five Dead
                                                           Sri Lanka Care Home Fire Leaves Five Dead. Credit: LankaNews.

Police said 44 residents were evacuated from the building with help from emergency responders and fellow residents, while the facility was destroyed by the fire. Several survivors were taken to the hospital after suffering smoke inhalation.

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A police officer at the scene told reporters that forensic experts had been deployed to determine the cause of the fire.

Sri Lanka rarely records fire disasters of this scale, though four people were killed in a gas station explosion in April last year.

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