15 children killed in Haiti orphanage fire
A fire swept through an unlicensed orphanage outside Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince, killing 15 children, a local judge told AFP on Friday.
The building — which had not been authorized to operate as an orphanage since 2013 — housed about 66 children, said Raymonde Jean Antoine.
The fire in Kenscoff — a town of 50,000 south of the capital — began shortly after 9:00 pm Thursday (0200 GMT Friday), she said.
Two children died in the blaze and 13 others died at a local hospital as a result of smoke inhalation, the judge added.
The cause of the fire and the victims’ ages were not immediately known.
The two-story building was in a state of complete disrepair, with bunk beds — some in deplorable condition — crammed into small rooms, a cramped staircase and only one usable exit door, an AFP reporter saw.
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