Chile arrests 284 in protests condemning Pinochet dictatorship, 16 killed

More than 280 people were arrested in Chile during protests condemning Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, the government said Saturday.A fire at a nursing home in Chile has killed 16 people, authorities said Saturday

Authorities arrested 284 people, including 31 minors, Public Security Minister Martin Arrau said on X.

Pinochet led a dictatorship in Chile from 1973 to 1990 that left more than 3,200 dead or missing. Tens of thousands were tortured or imprisoned.

A fire at a nursing home in Chile has killed 16 people, authorities said Saturday.

The blaze began on Friday night at the nursing home in the Araucania region, 640 kilometers (400 miles) south of the capital Santiago, and was extinguished in the early hours of Saturday

Images shared on social media showed massive flames rising above the building in the darkness.

“We express our sorrow and dismay at the deaths of 16 elderly people in this tragedy,” authorities in the municipality of Pitrufquen said in a statement.

A total of 26 elderly residents were in the nursing home. Ten of them survived and were taken to the local hospital, the statement said.

Local mayor Jacqueline Romero said that municipal health and public safety teams, firefighters and police were deployed in response to the blaze.

“It is a situation that fills our souls with great sorrow and pain. We have been... providing support to the families,” she said.The cause of the fire remained unclear.

“We are currently carrying out investigative procedures, including examining the scene and conducting inquiries, to determine the origin and cause of the fire, as well as to rule out third-party involvement,” Jorge Granada, the prosecutor assigned to the case, told local media.