Fifteen children died on Friday in Haiti due to the fire of an orphanage. The Kenscoff establishment, located in an insanitary building with deplorable furnishings, had no longer had legal authorization to operate since 2013, according to a judge. The cause of the fire and the age of the victims remain unknown.

The fire of an orphanage in Haiti caused the death of 15 children, said Friday the judge of the commune of Kenscoff, Raymonde Jean Antoine. Two children died in the orphanage and 13 from suffocation at the Fermathe hospital, said the magistrate. The fire started shortly after 9 p.m. local time Thursday (2 a.m. GMT Friday), she said.

No more legal authorization to operate since 2013

The orphanage of Kenscoff, a commune located on the heights of the agglomeration of Port-au-Prince, no longer had legal authorization to operate since 2013 and sheltered approximately 66 children, according to Raymonde Jean Antoine.

The cause of the fire and the age of the victims were unknown at this time.

An unsanitary building

The orphanage was located in an unsanitary two-story building, with bunk beds, some of them in deplorable condition, crammed into small rooms, with cramped stairs and only an open exit door.

It is in this country that a French couple who came to adopt lost their lives almost three months ago.