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The alarm was raised just before 5 a.m. on Friday in Villafranca
de Ebro, about 28 kilometers (18 miles) from the city of
Zaragoza. Two people remained in critical condition, officials
said.
The cause of the fire was not yet known.
Local media said 82 people had been living in the nursing home,
which focused on treating people with dementia and mental health
issues.
Jorge Azcón, head of the regional government of Aragon, which
includes Villafranca de Ebro, told reporters outside the nursing
home that an investigation would be opened into the cause of the
fire.
The immediate priority was to transfer the remaining uninjured
residents to other facilities, he said, including one in the
city of Huesca, about 90 kilometers (56 miles) away.
Volga Ramírez, mayor of Villafranca de Ebro, told reporters that
intense smoke from the blaze was likely responsible for the
deaths.
“It is due to smoke inhalation,” Ramírez said, “not because they
were burned.” She said that the remaining residents of the
center had been safely evacuated.
Zaragoza fire chief Eduardo Sánchez told reporters that
firefighters had extinguished a blaze in one room of the center.
On X, formerly Twitter, Azcón announced that all government
events in the Aragon region were cancelled for the day.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wrote on X that he was
“shocked by the tragedy" and expressed condolences to the
victims.
The fire took place just weeks after devastating flash floods in
the Spanish region of Valencia killed more than 200 people and
destroyed thousands of homes. The floods were the worst natural
disaster in Spain's recent history.
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