Overburdened power cable behind Bosnia retirement home fire that killed 15

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — An overburdened power cable caused a deadly fire last week in a retirement facility in Bosnia, authorities said on Friday as doctors announced that the death toll had risen to 15.

The power cable from a radio used by one of the residents of the facility was squeezed between that person’s bed and the wall, which led to a short circuit and the fire on the evening of Nov. 4, an investigation found.

The blaze that broke out on the seventh floor of a retirees’ boarding house in the northeastern town of Tuzla killed eleven people that day and injured 30. Four more people have died in the Tuzla hospital since, including two last week and two more in the last 24 hours, doctors said on Friday.

Authorities on Friday promised that the investigation will continue to determine if there was any neglect or oversight amid public criticism.

Bosnian media reported that higher floors in the complex were occupied by elderly people who could not move on their own or were ill. The manager of the complex has resigned.