25 Mental Patients Die in Fire; Many Were Chained
A fire raced through a palm-thatched shed housing mentally ill people in southern India, killing 25 patients, many of whom were chained to their beds, police said.
At least five other patients were seriously injured in the fire at the Badshah asylum, attached to a Muslim mosque in Erwady, about 350 miles south of Madras, the capital of Tamil Nadu state.
Thousands of Indian families bring their ill relatives to the Erwady shrine because of the popular belief that a visit can cure mental disorders.
When the fire broke out just before dawn, caretakers initially ignored the patients’ cries for help, which they took for routine screams.
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