{"id":131808,"date":"2026-06-04T08:22:39","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T14:22:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-fire-at-a-nursing-home-in-sri-lanka-kills-12-people\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T08:22:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T14:22:39","slug":"a-fire-at-a-nursing-home-in-sri-lanka-kills-12-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-fire-at-a-nursing-home-in-sri-lanka-kills-12-people\/","title":{"rendered":"A fire at a nursing home in Sri Lanka kills 12 people"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A
A Sri Lankan police officer inspects a charred elderly care home following an overnight fire in Anguruwatota, Sri Lanka, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo)<\/span>(AP Photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) \u2014 A fire at an unregistered nursing home in western Sri Lanka killed 12 residents and injured eight others, police said Thursday.<\/p>\n

The fire started late Wednesday at the home in Anguruwatota town. Fifty-one residents were rescued, police spokesman Fredrick Wootler said. He said people with mental illnesses were also housed there.<\/p>\n

The director of the home was arrested on suspicion of causing deaths through negligence. He appeared before a court and was ordered to be detained for a week while an investigation is underway.<\/p>\n

Associated Press footage showed the building gutted with its charred furniture and equipment. Bodies lay nearby.<\/p>\n

Local television channel Hiru showed image of firefighters, police and residents trying to contain the raging fire. Those rescued were assisted by police and soldiers in boarding buses to a safe location.<\/p>\n

Chathura Mihudum, director of the National Secretariat for Elders, said the facility was not registered as a nursing home and had been warned to follow laws and guidelines.<\/p>\n

He said it was overcrowded with beds for just about 15 people in a space where 71 people were living.<\/p>\n

Government officials had previously visited the institution and had instructed the management to follow laws, he said, without elaborating.<\/p>\n

\"Sri
Sri Lankan police and judiciary officials inspect a charred elderly care home following an overnight fire in Anguruwatota, Sri Lanka, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo)<\/span>(AP Photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sri
Sri Lankan police and judiciary officials inspect a charred elderly care home following an overnight fire in Anguruwatota, Sri Lanka, Thursday, June 4, 2026.(AP Photo)<\/span>(AP Photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sri
Sri Lankan army soldiers stand outside looking at the debris of a charred elderly care home in Anguruwatota, Sri Lanka, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo)<\/span>(AP Photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sri
Sri Lankan army soldiers stand outside looking at the debris of a charred elderly care home in Anguruwatota, Sri Lanka, Thursday, June 4, 2026.(AP Photo)<\/span>(AP Photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Sri Lankan police officer inspects a charred elderly care home following an overnight fire in Anguruwatota, Sri Lanka, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo)(AP Photo) COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) \u2014 A fire at an unregistered nursing home in western Sri Lanka killed 12 residents and injured eight others, police said Thursday. The fire started […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":131809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5734],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-131808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-associated-press"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131808"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=131808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}