Three people died in a fire at the San Giovanni Evangelista hospital in Tivoli, near Rome, on the night of Friday December 8 to Saturday December 9, announced the president of the Lazio region, Francesco Rocca. Initially, emergency services reported four deaths, before this toll was revised.
On Saturday morning, the Minister of Health, Orazio Schillaci, sent his condolences to the families of “elderly people who lost their lives”, deploring a “terrible tragedy”. “We hope that the investigation will clarify the causes of the fire as quickly as possible,” he added in a press release on Saturday morning.
Among the patients and staff of the establishment, around 192 people, including three babies, had to be evacuated, according to the mayor of Tivoli, Giuseppe Proietti, quoted by the Italian daily Il Messaggero. Patients who were in intensive care were transferred to other hospitals in the region while those whose condition was less serious were taken care of by emergency services in the nearby municipal gymnasium, the municipality of Tivoli said on Facebook.
The Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, expressed on the social network
The tragedy raised strong emotion in the political class, and questions about the security of the establishment. The public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation, and autopsies will be carried out to understand the circumstances of the tragedy, announced the Italian authorities. According to information provided by the city of Tivoli, the fire started around 10:30 p.m. The Italian daily Corriere della Sera specifies that the fire started “in the second basement”, before going up to the kitchens and upstairs. superiors.
