26 killed in Peru drug rehab centre fire: officials

A fire in a drug rehabilitation center in a densely populated area of Lima Saturday has killed at least 26 people and injured 12 others, authorities said.Antonio Zavala, the commandant of the fire department, said the blaze broke out on the first floor of the center when a patients mattress caught fire.At least three of the injured were in very, very serious condition, Health Ministry official Javier Correa said.A police spokesman told RPP radio the deaths occurred because doors to rooms where some 40 patients were having breakfast were closed and they could not open them.One of the survivors told the radio station that he managed to escape the inferno by jumping from the second floor of the burning building.I could just see smoke and hear screams, he said.Other residents also jumped from the building. Paramedics and firefighters were on the scene in Limas San Juan de Lurigancho neighborhood, and the injured were being taken to hospitals, the Health Ministry said.The Christ is Love center housed some 40 residents, and officials said it appear to be an underground treatment clinic, not registered with authorities.