In the southeastern part of Peru, 10 university students died in a restaurant fire and three others were injured, police reported on Friday, according to LETA citing AFP.
The fire broke out on Thursday afternoon in a restaurant in the city of Wankane in the Puno region, near the border with Bolivia.
The victims were students of a pedagogical college aged between 17 and 23, who had gathered at the restaurant to celebrate a birthday.
"When forensic experts from the police and prosecutor's office arrived, 10 bodies were found," a local police officer reported.
The fire cut off the students' escape route on the second floor of the wooden and brick building, where they were engulfed in flames.
Neighbors attempted to extinguish the fire using fire extinguishers and buckets of water.
Wankane's mayor, Valerio Tapia, told the state news agency Andina that there is no fire department in this city of about 20,000 residents. Firefighters arrived from the neighboring city of Juliaca about an hour later to contain the blaze.
Local media speculated that a gas leak and explosion could have caused the fire.
Such fires are not uncommon in remote areas of Peru, where safety regulations are often violated when storing flammable materials.
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