11 dead after fire causes France vacation home to collapse

(updates death toll)Paris, Aug 9 (EFE).- Eleven people died after a fire broke out on Wednesday at a holiday home in eastern France, firefighters said.

Officials in Wintzenheim, which is close to the German border, had already confirmed nine deaths earlier on Wednesday, and raised the death toll after discovering the remains of two people who had been unaccounted for.

Firefighters explained that the fire completely burned down a large part of the building and that the second floor collapsed, causing the 11 deaths.

Twenty-eight members of a group of people with learning disabilities and their supervisors from the city of Nancy were staying at the hostel.

A total of 17 people were able to escape, one of them with very serious injuries.

French prime minister Élisabeth Borne and the Minister of Solidarity and Families, Aurore Bergé, went to the site of the disaster to follow the recovery of the bodies and to speak with the families of the victims, as well as to set up a center for psychological care for the families and survivors.

Interior minister Gérald Darmanin praised the “rapid and courageous intervention of the firefighters” on social media.

The shelter is part of the ITEP network, whose centers take in youth, adolescents and young adults with mental or intellectual development problems. EFE

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