At least 10 people were killed in a fire at a nursing home in northeastern Spain

MADRID (AP) — At least 10 people died and others were injured in a blaze at a nursing home near Zaragoza in northeastern Spain, before firefighters managed to extinguish the flames, local authorities said Friday.

The alarm was raised just before 5 a.m. on Friday in Villafranca de Ebro, about 28 kilometers (18 miles) from the city of Zaragoza. Two people remained in critical condition, officials said.

The cause of the fire was not yet known.

Local media said 82 people had been living in the Jardines De Villafranca nursing home, which focused on treating people with dementia and mental health issues.

Jorge Azcón, head of the regional government of Aragon — which includes Villafranca de Ebro, population 840 — told reporters outside the nursing home that an investigation would be opened into the cause of the fire.

The immediate priority was to transfer the remaining uninjured residents to other facilities, he said, including one in the city of Huesca, about 90 kilometers (56 miles) away.

Volga Ramírez, mayor of Villafranca de Ebro, told reporters that intense smoke from the blaze was likely responsible for the deaths.

“It is due to smoke inhalation,” Ramírez said, “not because they were burned.” She said that the remaining residents of the center had been safely evacuated.

Zaragoza fire chief Eduardo Sánchez told reporters that firefighters had extinguished the blaze that came from one room of the center. A fire door had prevented the blaze from spreading to the other half of the building, he said.

On X, formerly Twitter, Azcón announced that all government events in the Aragon region were cancelled for the day.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wrote on X that he was “shocked by the tragedy" and expressed condolences to the victims.

The fire took place just weeks after devastating flash floods in the Spanish region of Valencia killed more than 200 people and destroyed thousands of homes. The floods were the worst natural disaster in Spain's recent history.

View of the nursing home where least 10 people have died in a fire in Zaragoza, Spain, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Ferran Mallol )

Residents are moved out of the nursing home where least 10 people have died in a fire in Zaragoza, Spain, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Ferran Mallol)

Residents are moved out of the nursing home where least 10 people have died in a fire in Zaragoza, Spain, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Ferran Mallol )

Residents are moved out of the nursing home where least 10 people have died in a fire in Zaragoza, Spain, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Ferran Mallol )

Residents are moved out of the nursing home where least 10 people have died in a fire in Zaragoza, Spain, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Ferran Mallol )

Residents are moved out of the nursing home where least 10 people have died in a fire in Zaragoza, Spain, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Ferran Mallol )

Relatives wait for news outside the nursing home where least 10 people have died in a fire in Zaragoza, Spain, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Ferran Mallol )

Relatives waiting for news outside the nursing home where least 10 people have died in a fire in Zaragoza, Spain, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Ferran Mallol )

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Princess Yuriko, the wife of wartime Emperor Hirohito’s brother and the oldest member of the imperial family, has died after her health deteriorated recently, palace officials said. She was 101.

Yuriko died Friday at a Tokyo hospital, the Imperial Household Agency said. It did not announce the cause of death.

Born in 1923 as an aristocrat, Yuriko married at age 18 to Prince Mikasa, the younger brother of Hirohito and the great-uncle of current Emperor Naruhito, months before the start of World War II.

She has recounted living in a shelter with her husband and their baby daughter after their residence was burned down in the U.S. fire bombings of Tokyo in the final months of the war in 1945.

Yuriko raised five children and supported Mikasa’s research into ancient Near Eastern history, while also serving her official duties and taking part in philanthropic activities, including promotion of maternal and child health. She outlived her husband and all three sons.

Her death reduces Japan’s rapidly dwindling imperial family to 16 people, including four men, as the country faces the dilemma of how to maintain the royal family while conservatives in the governing party insist on retaining male-only succession.

The 1947 Imperial House Law, which largely preserves conservative prewar family values, allows only males to take the throne and forces female royal family members who marry commoners to lose their royal status.

The youngest male member of the imperial family, Prince Hisahito — the nephew of Emperor Naruhito — is currently the last heir apparent, posing a major problem for a system that doesn’t allow empresses. The government is debating how to keep succession stable without relying on women.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, visiting South America to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation and Group of 20 summits, issued a statement expressing “heartfelt condolences.”

Naruhito, Empress Masako and their daughter Aiko and other relatives visited the Mikasa residence to mourn Yuriko's death. The palace announced that the general public wishing to offer condolences can sign a book beginning Saturday.

Yuriko had lived a healthy life as a centenarian before suffering a stroke and pneumonia in March. She enjoyed exercise in the morning while watching a daily fitness program on television, the Imperial Household Agency says. She also continued to read multiple newspapers and magazines and enjoyed watching news and baseball on TV. On sunny days, she sat in the palace garden or was wheeled in her wheelchair.

Yuriko was hospitalized after her stroke and had been in and out of intensive care since then. Her overall condition deteriorated over the past week, the Imperial Household Agency said.

This story corrects that Mikasa was current emperor’s great-uncle, not uncle.

FILE - Princess Yuriko of Mikasa, fourth left, with Crown Prince Akishino, from left, Crown Princess Kiko, Princess Kako, Princess Nobuko of Mikasa and Princess Akiko of Mikasa, waves during the New Year's appearance by the Japanese royal family at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Jan. 2, 2023. (Tomohiro Ohsumi/Pool Photo via AP, File)

FILE - In this file photo provided by the Imperial Household Agency of Japan, Princess Yuriko, wife of the late Prince Mikasa, poses for a photo at her palace residence reception room in Tokyo, May 22, 2023. (Imperial Household Agency via AP, File)

In this file photo provided by the Imperial Household Agency of Japan, Japanese Prince Mikasa, right, and his wife Princess Yuriko talk at their residence in Tokyo, Nov. 16, 2015. (Imperial Household Agency of Japan via AP, File)