Police say nursing home resident set deadly blaze in Taiwan

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Police in Taiwan say a nursing home resident has confessed to setting a fire that killed 12 people and injured 70 at the facility.

Police have not identified the man, who was arrested after the fire devastated the nursing home at 3 a.m. Tuesday. Local TV reports say he set the fire because he was unhappy about his own protracted illness.

The home is on the second floor of the Hsinying hospital in the southern city of Tainan. Hospital official Tsai Ming-shih says most of the victims were bedridden and too frail to run for their lives.

Tsai says all the fatalities resulted from smoke inhalation. He says the fire was extinguished about 40 minutes after it broke out and rescuers evacuated more than 100 patients to safe locations.