BATON ROUGE, La., Sept. 13 (UPI) -- The owners of a New Orleans-area nursing home where 34 residents died during flooding were charged Tuesday with 34 counts of negligent homicide.
Attorney General Charles Foti said that Salvador and Mabel Mangano, after making arrangements with an ambulance service weeks ago, failed to evacuate St. Rita's Nursing Home in St. Bernard's Parish, the Times-Picayune reported. Parish officials said last week that the Manganos also rejected offers of buses to remove residents.
St. Bernard's, south of New Orleans, was one of the areas worst hit by flooding after Hurricane Katrina struck. Last Sunday, officials said that houses there were still flooded "to the eaves."
The Manganos turned themselves in Tuesday and were being held in the East Baton Route Parish Jail, pending a ruling on bail.
"I want answers. I want to know why those people were trapped and were not evacuated," Foti said last week when he announced an investigation into the deaths at St. Rita's.
