Fire kills 10 members of same family in Peru, police say

What the report says

BBC World News reports that a fire at a home in Lima, Peru, killed 10 people from one family, including five children. Police said the blaze broke out early Wednesday in the southern district of La Victoria. Gen. Oscar Arriola of the Peruvian National Police told local media that the victims included children aged three, six, six, eight and 15, along with adults aged 29, 35, 42 and 72, plus another adult whose age was not provided.

Authorities are investigating what caused the fire. The BBC, citing local media, said police are looking into reports that it may have been deliberately set. Those reports said the family, which made mattresses and owned electric motorcycles, had allegedly faced threats and demands for extortion payments. No official finding on arson was reported in the article.

According to the government news agency Andina, cited by the BBC, neighbours said unidentified people set fire to motorcycles outside the property before flames spread quickly through flammable materials used in mattress production. Infobae, also cited by the BBC, reported that 17 relatives were inside the building when the fire began at about 03:00 local time, and that seven escaped. Two people were also reported injured.

The case is significant both for the scale of the family loss and for the possible criminal context under investigation. Peru’s National Police said the country was in mourning, and police indicated they would keep a strong presence in the area to protect the property from further criminal acts.