Nurse charged with murder over Australia hospital fire

SYDNEY, Nov 19 - A nurse at an aged care home in Australia's largest city where a fire killed five elderly residents and injured dozens more has been charged with murder, police said on Saturday.

Roger Dean, 35, was arrested and charged with four counts of murder over the fire at a nursing home in the northwestern Sydney suburb of Quakers Hill on Friday. A fifth resident at the nursing home died later, police said.

Dean appeared in court via video link and was refused bail. He will reappear in court on November 24.

Another 32 residents were taken to nearby hospitals after the fire. More than a dozen of the injured are in intensive care units.

Investigators expect an examination of the fire scene to take several days due to the extent of structural damage to the building.