Mirsad Bakalovic, director of the Retirement Home in Tuzla, has been arrested following the fire at the Home that claimed the lives of 17 people.
He was arrested due to omissions in the management of the facility, and was taken into custody by members of the Tuzla Canton (TC) Ministry of Internal Affairs on Tuesday at around 12 p.m.
Bakalovic was initially summoned to the premises of the TC Ministry of Internal Affairs, after which the acting prosecutor of the TC Prosecutor’s Office issued an order for deprivation of liberty.
It should be mentioned that the fire at the Tuzla Retirement Home broke out on November 4th of this year. As a result of carbon monoxide poisoning, 16 people lost their lives, while one person died from sustained burns.
According to the initial findings of experts, the fire occurred as a result of a short circuit on the conductors of the power cable of a radio receiver, which at the time the fire broke out was plugged into a socket, compressed between the mattress on the bed, the wall and the metal part of the bed in the room of one of the residents of the Tuzla Retirement Home. The primary cause was first mechanical and then thermal stress on the cable.
“The expert findings and opinion on the causes of the fire are the initial part of the investigative actions being conducted, which will be carried out in further work in order to determine responsibility and omissions, with the aim of collecting facts as to whether the consequences could have been avoided or reduced,” the TC Prosecutor’s Office announced.
