A “chained” patient was among a more than a dozen people killed during a fire at an unregistered nursing home killed in western Sri Lanka, according to a staff member.
Police said 13 residents died and eight others were injured at the home in Anguruwatota late on Wednesday.
Nursing home worker Danuja Chathuranga said there were two residents who were chained.
One was united and rescued, while the other died, he said.
His comments came as public outrage grew over the treatment allegedly meted out to residents at the home.
A nursing home worker said there were concerns of patients running away or falling.
(AP: Eranga Jayawardena)
“You only have to take your eyes away for one moment [and] they run away,” Mr Chathuranga said.
“One of them had gone one day with the chair he was tied [to] and was found entangled in a barbed wire fence
“Another with sores on [their] legs was brought back from a muddy field.
“Our intention was not to harm them. They were patients receiving psychiatric treatment.
“If they run away or fall into a pit, well or get run over by a vehicle, we have to take that responsibility.”
Building now a burned-out shell
The nursing home for people with mental health conditions was abandoned on Friday.
Glasses cases, medicines and reclining chairs lay strewn around the burned-out shell in the small town about 55 kilometres south-east of the island’s capital, Colombo.
The remnants of bed destroyed by the fire. (AP: Eranga Jayawardena)
The fire-ravaged nursing home and two other nursing facilities run by the same management are unregistered but government officials and institutions have worked with them.
Amala Rajapaksa, the homes’ chief administrator, said their residents included people referred from the state’s main mental hospital, courts and police. Government doctors visit the residents to treat them.
Residents interact with Amala Rajapaksa, the administrator of the nursing home, where inmates of another nursing home that caught fire on Wednesday are being temporarily housed. (AP: Eranga Jayawardena)
Authorities transferred 21 fire survivors to another nearby home run by the same management.
The area’s government welfare officer declined to comment on the arrangements, citing restrictions on state employees to speak to the media.
Ms Rajapaksa said she had managed the homes for 22 years and that her late husband first started a home in memory of his late father.
A few years ago, her stepson, Isuru Anushka Perera, who is now in detention for negligence, became the director and popularised the homes through social media.
Chathura Mihudum, director of Sri Lanka’s National Secretariat for Elders, said the facility was not registered as a nursing home and it had been warned to follow laws and guidelines.
He said it was overcrowded, with enough beds for about 15 people in a space where 71 people were living.
Ms Rajapaksa said the institution was in the process of being registered.
Director drummed up business using TikTok
The home’s videos on TikTok show a resident performing martial arts moves and others singing and dancing to music with the director, who is known among social media followers as Loku Ayya, or older brother.
Ms Rajapaksa said it was a struggle to care for residents until Mr Perera’s social media campaign attracted volunteers and donors.
Relatives who had the means paid for their resident family members, but others who could not pay were also looked after.
It was not immediately clear how much funding the organisation received or how it was used.
According to police, 71 people were staying at the home at the time of the fire, of which 50 were rescued by neighbours, firefighters and police. (AP: Eranga Jayawardena)
On Friday, a victim’s family stood near the local hospital morgue awaiting the completion of an autopsy, so they could claim the remains. The father of the victim refused to speak to The Associated Press, saying he did not wish to comment on the home’s living conditions.
Dolawatta Mudiyanselage Chandra Rajapaksa, the mother of a 45-year-old resident living in another home run by Mr Perera, said she had to keep her son there because she no longer had the strength to care for him.
“He is a mental patient. It’s difficult for me to look after him. I am old and in my 70s and a patient myself,” she said.
She said she brought her son to the home after learning about it “on the phone”.
AP video footage showed the building gutted with charred furniture and equipment. Bodies lay nearby.
71 lived at the home and 50 were rescued
Local television showed images of firefighters, police and residents trying to contain the raging fire. Police and soldiers put those rescued onto buses to be taken to a safe location.
According to police, 71 people were staying at the home at the time of the fire, of which 50 were rescued by neighbours, firefighters and police.
Seven remained hospitalised on Friday.
Mr Chathuranga said it was thought the fire was caused by an electrical short circuit in wiring attached to a water pump.
“The fire initially caught a pile of mattresses and pillows and then quickly spread across the house,” he said.
Residents walk through the remains of the nursing home. (AP: Eranga Jayawardena)
AP
