An investigation opened after the fire at the Limoges University Hospital which caused the death of at least one person

An investigation was opened following the fire which broke out on the night of Friday October 28 to Saturday October 29 at the Limoges University Hospital, killing at least one person, the prosecutor’s office announced on Sunday. “A judicial investigation has been opened into charges of involuntary homicide, involuntary damage to the property of others by clearly deliberate violation of a particular obligation of safety or prudence (…) having caused death and involuntary damage (.. .)”said Limoges public prosecutor Baptiste Porcher, in a press release.

The investigation was entrusted to the territorial direction of the judicial police and the departmental security of Limoges. During the night of Saturday, a fire was detected on the 2nd floor of the university hospital, in a room in the digestive surgery department. “Three minutes after the alarm was triggered, the hospital’s fire safety personnel intervened and evacuated the patient from the room in which the fire was detected”continues the magistrate, specifying that this patient lost his life.

An “undetermined” origin

A second person, “89 years old, present in the wing and who was undergoing end-of-life treatment”, is also dead. Autopsies will take place soon “in particular in order to verify the possible causality between the death of the second victim and the fire”specifies Baptiste Porcher.

Two other patients in the wing who had inhaled smoke during the disaster left the emergency department where they had been admitted. The twenty patients from the department affected by the fire had been transferred to other areas of the hospital. The origin of the disaster “remains undetermined at this stage”. “Findings and technical examinations are planned as soon as possible”adds the prosecution.