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

What the report says

Nile Post, carrying a BBC report, says 10 members of one family died after a fire swept through a home in Lima, Peru, early on Wednesday. Gen. Oscar Arriola of the Peruvian National Police told local media the blaze struck a property in the southern La Victoria district. Police said the dead included five children, aged three, six, six, eight and 15, and five adults, four of whom were listed as 29, 35, 42 and 72 years old. Two other people were reportedly injured.

According to the report, 17 relatives were inside the building when the fire began at about 03:00 local time, and seven escaped. Arriola said the victims’ bodies were severely burned. The National Police of Peru issued a statement describing the incident as a national tragedy and said officers would keep a strong presence in the area to guard the property from possible criminal activity.

Authorities are investigating whether the fire was deliberately set. Nile Post cited local media reports that the family, which made mattresses and owned electric motorcycles, had faced threats and extortion demands. The government news agency Andina reported that neighbours said unidentified people set motorcycles outside the property on fire before flames spread quickly through flammable materials used for mattress production.

The case matters because it combines a mass-casualty residential fire with concerns about possible organized criminal intimidation. The reported details remain under investigation, and officials had not announced a final cause of the blaze in the supplied coverage.