Uruguay nursing home fire claims 10 lives

MONTEVIDEO: All 10 elderly residents of an Uruguayan nursing home died on Sunday after an early-morning fire from which the lone caretaker was the only person to escape, authorities said.

Eight women and two men died from the blaze at the six-roomed facility in the city of Treinta y Tres in the South American country´s east, according to an official statement.

Firefighters found the main entrance shuttered on their arrival, it added. Once inside, they found a fire in the living room with smoke having spread throughout the facility.

A 20-year-old caretaker had managed to get out safely through a garage, said the statement.

Seven of the residents died on the scene from smoke inhalation, while three others were rushed to hospital in a critical condition, but did not survive.