The deaths of 14 elderly residents in a fire at a care home are to be investigated in a Fatal Accident Inquiry that gets under way in Motherwell.

The 14 victims died on January 31 2004 after a blaze broke out in a downstairs cupboard at the Rosepark Care Home in Uddingston in Lanarkshire.

The Crown Office said the inquiry would seek to ensure relatives could learn "the full circumstances of this tragic incident" and to identify any steps that might prevent a recurrence.

An attempt to prosecute the owners of the home collapsed in May when charges against them were dismissed.

Thomas Balmer, his wife Anne and their son Alan had faced 17 charges relating to health and safety and fire precaution regulations. But the charges were dismissed at the High Court in Glasgow, on the basis that they were partners in a firm that had since dissolved and they could not therefore be prosecuted.

The Balmers will be represented at the inquiry, along with Strathclyde Fire and Rescue, Lanarkshire Health Board and the Care Commission

The inquiry will hear evidence on the causes of death, any precautions that could have been taken in regards to the home's construction, its inspection and its fire safety system and any defects that might have contributed to this fatal blaze.

The inquiry will hear from 371 potential witnesses and could last up to six months.