Wednesday 30 / April / 2025
Paris: Authorities in the eastern French town of Winzheim on Wednesday said nine people died and three more were missing after a blaze broke out at a holiday cottage hosting a group of disabled people.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said it was believed that there were several casualties after the fire ravaged the building.
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.
"Despite the rapid and courageous intervention of the fire department... several casualties are reported," he said.
Later on Wednesday, nine bodies were found at the centre.
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 mobilised.
Seventeen people were successfully evacuated from the centre, including one person who was hospitalized in a "relative emergency."
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-metre home had burned.
