Indian blaze kills tied-up patients

ERWADI, India -- At least 25 people have been killed as a fire raced through a home for the mentally ill in Erwadi in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

Some of the patients were tied to their beds, according to police officials, making escape impossible.

It took two hours to bring the blaze under control early Monday and by that time some bodies were charred beyond recognition.

The cause of the fire is being investigated, but police said a hurricane lamp might have been tipped over. Five people were injured and taken to the hospital.

There were at least 45 patients in a row of dormitories when the blaze broke out just before dawn.

Investigation difficult

"Investigations are on and we have yet to ascertain the exact cause of the fire, though it appears an electrical short circuit could have triggered it," a government official said.

"We are still collecting details and the fact that these mentally ill people, who are in a state of shock, are unable to speak coherently and tell us what happened makes our task all the more difficult," a police officer said.

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Reuters reported that Thara Srinivasan, director of India's Schizophrenia Care and Research Foundation, said most of the patients were probably chronic schizophrenics who had been abandoned by their families.

She said the religious homes considered mentally ill patients as being possessed by evil spirits and that they required spiritual treatment.

"We have already brought the poor living conditions and absolute lack of rights in which these mentally ill people are housed in these facilities to the notice of the state government," Srinivasan said.

"They are just left in chains for months or years on end and only the slightly less violent among them are taken to attend some kind of daily prayer ritual."

An outbreak of gastro-enteritis in a similar home in the state killed five mentally ill inmates last year, she added.

Reuters contributed to this report.