Authorities investigate fire that killed 14 Venezuelan migrants

Chile Police teams investigated the site of a fire that tore through a housing settlement in southern Chile on Monday which left 14 Venezuelan migrants dead, including eight children, the deputy mayor of the city of Coronel said.

These are Venezuelan families who died as a result of this fire that destroyed their home. The fire's causewas unknown but that investigators were looking into whether a heating unit overheated.Three families had crowded into the two homes destroyed by the fire, the deputy mayor said.

Since 2017, Venezuelan migrant arrivals to Chile have increased exponentially. Thousands of the migrants cross the border by walking from Bolivia or Peru. According to official estimates, of the 1.7 million foreigners who arrived in Chile in recent years almost half are Venezuelans who fled the economic crisis in their country.