A fire tore through an old people's home in southern Italy early today leaving at least 18 people dead and several others injured, police said.
Officials said they could not yet determine the cause of the blaze, which had been extinguished, but ANSA news agency said it may have been caused by a short circuit of electricity.
The home, near the town of Buccino, southeast of Naples, housed more than 100 elderly people, some of them mentally or physically handicapped.
Of the victims, police said 10 were males and eight females. At least eight people were injured.
The fire moved so rapidly through the home that first reports said some victims were found lying in their beds. ANSA said the home was a three-house prefabricated structure built in 1980 and donated to the rural community of San Gregorio Magno, outside Buccino.