At least 11 people died and dozens were injured in a fire at a retirement home in Tuzla. Among the injured were the home’s service users, firefighters and police officers. The director of the home has resigned, and authorities are announcing an investigation against all of them.
The worst accident in Tuzla’s recent history, in which many people were tragically killed and injured, has turned the City of Salt (Tuzla) into a black hole. The scenes during the firefighting and rescue of the residents of the retirement home were disturbing.
The fire broke out on the floor where the disabled were accommodated. The epilogue of the fire was the irrevocable resignation of the director of the home, Mirsad Bakalović, due to this event.
The management of the University Clinical Center Tuzla has offered hospitalization, or accommodation, for the residents.
The competent services and citizens have once again shown unity in saving lives, where police officers, medics and firefighters from many cities and municipalities participated. Employees of the Mental Health Center are also available to provide psychological assistance to all participants who need it.
While the investigation into the cause of last night’s fire at the Pensioners’ Home in Tuzla is ongoing, the Home’s management, the city administration, and the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina are taking steps to normalize the situation in the Pensioners’ Home and to provide care for the beneficiaries, either in the Home or in temporary locations.
The Prosecutor’s Office has ordered an autopsy of the bodies of the victims of the fire.
Federal Prime Minister Nermin Nikšić, along with some ministers in the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, visited Tuzla today and, expressing condolences to the families of the victims and the city administration, offered assistance from the federal authorities.
The city administration is in a permanent session today to determine priority measures for the rehabilitation of the Pensioners’ Home and to provide care for some of the residents who cannot stay in the Home. Given that the city manages the Pensioners’ Home, journalists directly asked Tuzla Mayor Zijad Lugavić whether he felt personal responsibility for the fire.
It is a devastating fact that there is no institutional control of homes for the elderly. Such control could be crucial in eliminating the shortcomings in these institutions, and thus prevent accidents such as last night’s fire in the Tuzla home.
It will take time to determine the cause of the fire in the Tuzla Home for the Elderly, but sooner or later, it will have to be determined who in the chain of responsibility ignored the numerous warnings, made public in previous years, about the numerous shortcomings in this Home.
