Relatives of patients waited anxiously outside the Christ Is Love centre for news
A fire at a drug rehabilitation centre in the Peruvian capital Lima has killed at least 26 people, officials say.
They say another 10 people were injured at the Christ Is Love centre, which uses biblical teachings to treat drug and alcohol addicts.
Firefighters are reported to be still tackling the fire.
The cause of the blaze is not known, but one police official is quoted as saying that it started after a patient's mattress caught fire.
The fire began on Saturday morning when patients were having breakfast at the centre in the poor and densely populated San Juan de Lurigancho district.
A local official told Peru's RPP radio station that many people died because doors to patients' rooms were closed and they were unable to open them.
Health Minister Alberto Tejada told the AFP news agency the centre may not have held a permit to operate.
"We are investigating. We are going to look at this circumstance after the fact, because the work is still underway to put out this lamentable incident," he said, according to AFP.
Gianfranco Huerta, a patient, said he had to jump from the second flood to escape the blaze.
"The doors were locked, there was no way to get out," he told RPP.
Chief firefighter Antonio Zavala told the Associated Press the fire was of "Dante-esque proportions".
"We've had to use electric saws to cut through the metal bars of the doors to be able to work,'' Mr Zavala said.
The injured were later taken to Lima's hospitals.
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