Fifteen children have died after a fire swept through an orphanage in Haiti run by a US Christian group, triggering renewed controversy over the proliferation of non-registered orphanages.
Two children burned to death when fire broke out at the orphanage of the Church of Bible Understanding on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince on Thursday night. Thirteen others died in hospital due to asphyxiation.
Rescue workers arrived at the scene on motorcycles and did not have bottled oxygen or the ambulances needed to transport the children to the hospital, said Jean-Francois Robenty, a civil protection official.
“They could have been saved,” he said. “We didn’t have the equipment to save their lives.”
U.S. Embassy is shocked
The U.S. Embassy is shocked and saddened to learn of the tragic loss of life resulting from the devastating fire at the Orphanage of the Church of Bible Understanding in Kenscoff.
We offer our deepest condolences to the loved ones of these children, whose lives were cut too short.
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