Day-Care Center Fire Kills 12 in Brazil

A fire in a day-care center in southern Brazil on Tuesday killed at least 12 children between the ages of 1 and 3, police said.

The fire, apparently caused by a short circuit in an electric heater, swept through a classroom of the Casinha da Emilia day-care center in Uruguaiana, a city 775 miles southeast of Sao Paulo.

“The heater somehow caught fire and killed the children, who were huddled together and hugging each other when they died,” Lt. Col. Renato Bortoluzzi of the military police said.

Investigators have not confirmed that the heater sparked the fire but did say that the children were unattended during their nap period.

“The biggest mistake was leaving those kids alone,” Bortoluzzi said.

Police Capt. Tito Livio Coelho said by telephone that he did not know how many children were in the room at the time of the fire but that he did not think the death toll would rise.

According to news reports, the only fire extinguisher in the day-care center malfunctioned.