President Sebastian Pinera said on Thursday during a tour of the affected zone that there was evidence the fire had been started deliberately
“I deeply regret that what should have been a good night, a night of peace, should have been so profoundly altered by this tragedy,” he said.Valparaiso, known for its colourful wood-frame houses, is popular among tourists in the South American country.
Inhabitants fled their homes just moments before sitting down to their Christmas Eve dinner, some losing all their belongings and even pets.“They took me to the house of a niece because I suffer from lung disease,” she told Reuters. “My husband arrived and said: ’Love, we have lost everything.’ I´ve cried all my tears already. My heart is so sore for everything that has happened to us, to our neighbours, in this tremendous tragedy.
“So many years of sacrifice, it has cost me so much to make my house and now that I´m retired, I have no way of making it back,” he said. “I have polio, I cannot stand for a long time, or sit for a long time either as I have osteoporosis in my hips, knees and feet. We are sleeping in a bathroom right now, it´s terrible.
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