Eleven people have been confirmed dead following a fire at a holiday cottage hosting people with learning disabilities in north-eastern France.
Thee blaze broke out around 6.30am local time (5.30am in the UK), at the house in the small town of Wintzenheim, sparking a search operation.
Eleven people - members of a group on holiday from Nancy in eastern France - were initially reported missing.
Ten adults with disabilities, and one staff member, are among the dead, officials have said.
Incendie dans un gîte à Wintzenheim : le feu éteint mais les pompiers toujours mobilisés; "onze personnes manqueraient à l'appel" selon la préfecture du Haut-Rhin
— France Bleu Alsace (@bleualsace) August 9, 2023
➡️ https://t.co/WslrPu64mo pic.twitter.com/SAUxqB6qAL
Shortly after 11am in the UK, it was confirmed the bodies of nine people had been found, while two remained unaccounted for.
Around 3pm, local officials confirmed the two remaining missing people had also been found dead.
The holiday home, located about 50 miles south of Strasbourg close to the German border, was rented for the summer by two charities that care for people with learning disabilities.
Twenty-eight people were staying there.
Seventeen were evacuated from the building during the fire. One of them was taken to hospital in a “relative emergency”, the local prefecture said.
“A few of the people who were (sleeping) on the first floor managed to escape, but most of those who got out were on the ground floor,” Lieutenant Colonel Philippe Hauwiller, who headed the rescue operations, told reporters.
A total of 76 firefighters, four fire engines, four ambulances and 40 police officers were deployed to contain the blaze and treat the victims.
The fire ravaged 300 square metres of the 500 square-metre building, but was swiftly brought under control by firefighters.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin tweeted that “early this morning, a fire broke out in a facility for disabled people”.
“Despite the rapid and courageous intervention of the fire department ... several casualties are reported,” he said.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said she was headed to the site, in the Haut-Rhin département in Grand Est in north-eastern France.
“My thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones,” she posted on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
President Emmanuel Macron also shared his condolences, writing: “ Faced with this tragedy, my thoughts go out to the victims, to the injured, to their loved ones.”
