Six people have died and about 80 are injured after a fire at a retirement home in Milan.

Two residents burned to death in their rooms while another four died from smoke inhalation, Giuseppe Sala, the mayor of Milan said.

Rescuing the injured was “particularly complicated” because of heavy smoke that limited visibility – and the fact that many residents could not stand on their own, local firefighters’ chief Nicola Miceli said.

Three of the injured are in a critical condition, firefighters’ spokesman Luca Cari said.

Fifteen others have serious but not life-threatening injuries, he added.

The fire started in a first-floor room, and despite being put out quickly and not spreading to the rest of the building, it produced a lot of toxic fumes.

A local resident, Lucia, said she saw people “gasping for air” at their windows, holding rags over their faces to protect themselves from the fumes.

“Those who could walk, they walked them out, those who could not, I think they were carried out in their bed sheets,” she said.

Many of those evacuated were in wheelchairs.

“It could have been [even] worse. Having said that, six dead is a very heavy death toll,” Mr Sala said.

The fire is now out and its cause is being investigated.

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The Home of the Spouses residential facility in the southeastern Corvetto neighbourhood houses 167 people in all.

According to Italian media, the fire started about midnight, UK time.

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