France: Several dead after fire at holiday home for disabled

Authorities in the eastern French town of Wintzenheim on Wednesday said 11 people were killed in a fire at a holiday cottage hosting a group of disabled people.

Local media reported the fatalities included ten people with disabilities and one carer.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne expressed her "sadness" over the "appalling" disaster.  

What we know about the fire

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin tweeted that "early this morning, a fire broke out in a facility for disabled people" in the small town near the city of Colmar, close to France's border with Germany.

The group of adults staying at the cottage had been on vacation from the nearby city of Nancy.

The blaze broke out at about 6:30 a.m. (0430 UTC/GMT) local time.

The fire department sent scores of firefighters and four fire trucks to contain the blaze as well as several ambulances to treat the victims. Forty police officers were also mobilized.

Seventeen people were successfully evacuated from the center, including one person who was hospitalized in a "relative emergency."

Fire brought under control

Philippe Hauwiller, who was leading the team of firefighters conducting rescue operations, said that only those who were on the ground floor had been able to escape.

Eleven people had been staying on the upper floor and a mezzanine level that collapsed.

The prefecture said the fire had been quickly brought under control but that some 300 square meters (about 3,300 square feet) of the 500-square-meter home had burned.

French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: "In the face of this tragedy, my thoughts are with the victims, the injured and their families. Thank you to our security forces and emergency services."

ab,rc/sms (Reuters, AFP)