Bosnia Charges Seven Over Deadly Fire at Tuzla Elderly People’s Care Home

Investigators inspect the scene after the fire at the nursing home in Tuzla, November 5, 2025. Photo: EPA/NIDAL SALJIC. Prosecutors in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Tuzla Canton on Friday indicted seven people over the fire at a Tuzla nursing home in November 2025 that killed 15 elderly residents and injured more than 30 others. The indictment charges former nursing home director Mirsad Bakalovic, service head Zinaida Razic Halilovic and Mustafa Azabagic, who was responsible for fire and occupational safety at the facility. Three employees of the Tuzla-based company Inproz, which prepared the nursing home’s 2021 fire risk assessment, are also indicted: Nedim Dzambic, Mirsad Zukancic and Jasmin Softic. The seventh defendant is Ibrahim Sarajlic, a fire safety inspector in Tuzla Canton. The defendants are charged with serious offences against public safety. Bakalovic is also charged with abuse of office and authority, the prosecutor’s office said. Prosecutors allege that between April 2021 and November 4, 2025, the defendants failed to implement or order legally required fire safety and general safety measures, despite knowing the facility was classified as a high-risk building. The nursing home run by the city of Tuzla housed 180 elderly residents, 110 of whom were seriously ill, immobile or living with disabilities. According to the indictment, the failures included inadequate supervision of residents with limited mobility, inappropriate accommodation and allocation of residents according to their health and mobility, and an inadequate fire prevention and protection system. Prosecutors said these failures prevented the timely detection and containment of the fire, the early detection and reporting of fire and carbon monoxide in residents’ rooms, the evacuation of residents, and the removal of smoke and heat from the building. “As official and responsible persons, by failing to install prescribed fire protection equipment and by failing to act in accordance with regulations or technical safety rules, they caused a danger to people’s lives, resulting in the deaths of several people,” the prosecutor’s office said. The fire broke out in a resident’s room on November 4 and quickly spread. Fifteen residents died, with autopsies establishing a direct causal link to carbon monoxide poisoning or other complications related to the fire, prosecutors said. More than 30 people were injured. The indictment has been submitted to the Tuzla Cantonal Court for confirmation. Prosecutors have also asked the court to ban all seven defendants from holding public or professional positions or performing certain activities for 10 years.