Six people died, and two others were injured when an unauthorized nursing home caught fire Saturday in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo, South America’s largest, according to police and city officials.
Five older adults and a caregiver died in the fire, said Aarón Barbosa, spokesman for the São Paulo Fire Department.
The “Lar da Vovó” (Grandmother’s House) facility is located in the eastern part of São Paulo and did not have a sanitary operating permit, the city mayor’s office said.
The Public Safety Secretariat of the State of Sao Paulo said in a statement that the establishment was operating without the permit that the Fire Department issued to all establishments in the sector.
According to witnesses, the fire lasted about four hours.
Barbosa said the fire started in a dining room and spread to the rooms.
Because the facility operated in secrecy, neighbors said they did not know that a retirement home was working there.