A late night fire tore through a private senior living home in southern Chile on Friday, killing 16 people and leaving only 10 others able to escape. Authorities said the blaze engulfed El Edén, a long stay residence for older adults in the Villa Comuy sector of Pitrufquén, in the La Araucanía region, around 10:30 p.m. local time on September 11. The scale of the loss became clear before dawn on Saturday. Gen.

Miguel Herrera, head of the Araucanía zone of Chile’s Carabineros national police, said firefighters found 16 people dead after crews reached the scene. “Around 10:30 a fire was declared. Only 10 people living in the nursing home were evacuated, and we must lament the death of 16 people, who are the ones who have been found by firefighters at this time,” Herrera said. Early accounts, issued while the fire was still being fought, spoke of at least five fatalities.

That figure rose as crews searched the ruins. Prosecutor Jorge Granada later confirmed the death toll at 16 and said investigators believed about 26 people had been inside. He added that, according to initial inquiries, not all of those present were older adults. Local officials said a single nursing assistant, identified in Chilean reports as a TENS technician, was on duty when the fire started.

Several reports said she got 10 people out on her own and then ran for help as flames spread through the building. The 10 survivors were taken to Pitrufquén Hospital. Mayor Jacqueline Romero said they were evaluated there and were not in serious condition. Later Saturday, Radio Bío Bío reported that the survivors had been medically discharged.

The municipality said some were returned to relatives and others were housed temporarily, including at Liceo La Frontera, a nearby school designated as a shelter. About 50 volunteer firefighters from Villa Comuy, Pitrufquén, and neighboring communes responded, along with SAMU emergency medical teams. Senapred, Chile’s national disaster agency, described the event as a structural fire at the residence on Route S-70.

Local outlets gave slightly different kilometer markers for the site, citing either kilometer 21 or kilometer 31, but agreed the home stood in Villa Comuy, west of Pitrufquén and near the boundary with Gorbea. By Saturday morning the building had been destroyed. Police, municipal workers, and forensic teams were clearing debris and securing the grounds. Herrera said Labocar, the Carabineros criminalistics laboratory, and OS9 investigators were working under the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the region’s Organized Crime and Homicide Team.

Authorities have not identified a cause. Granada said the origin remains under investigation and that no hypothesis has been ruled out, including the possible involvement of a third party. Officials also said they are examining how the home operated. Granada said investigators were taking statements “to determine what the conditions were in which these people were being treated and if the home had or did not have the relevant permits for its operation.”

The owner of the private facility has been questioned, according to regional media and prosecutors’ comments. Romero said the commune had raised concerns months earlier. “In February we had sent a letter as a municipality, precisely so that it would be inspected because it did not meet the regulations. It had a sanitary administrative case,” she said.

José Bravo, the regional health secretary, said the residence had been treated as irregular since 2019, had been fined, and was a repeat offender. Presidential delegate Francisco Ljubetic said officials were reviewing a 2025 complaint involving alleged mistreatment that was still being processed. Those statements concern prior regulation and complaints. Investigators have not said they explain how the fire started.

Romero declared three days of municipal mourning. Authorities said they were still notifying families and that identifying the dead would take time. Most of the residents were from the surrounding area, the mayor said, though some had come from other communes in the region. The confirmed picture on Saturday afternoon remained grim and incomplete: 16 dead, 10 rescued, one caregiver on duty for roughly 26 people, a building reduced to wreckage, and a criminal and administrative inquiry still in its first hours.

The cause of the fire has not been established.