Paris [France], August 9 : At least nine people lost their lives in a fire at a vacation home in Eastern France on Wednesday morning, reported CNN. Moreover, two went missing after the fire broke out.
The incident happened in Wintzenheim, a small town near the German border about 500 kilometres east of Paris at 6:33 am, according to the town's head of rescue operations Philippe Hauwiller.
The firefighters were alerted following the incident. They arrived 14 minutes later and 17 people had already evacuated themselves from the home, according to CNN.
Hauwiller added that eleven people were still inside the house. As per the intensity of the flames on the arrival of firefighters, it was 'more than likely' that those who had not made it out were already dead by the time team reached the incident site.
Moreover, the authorities deployed 76 firefighters, four fire trucks and four ambulances.
However, the fire was controlled by 9 am, the prefecture said in a statement.
A senior official in Haut-Rhin, Christophe Marot said that the people stuck inside the building could not escape from the blaze.
“We know that people were trapped,” Marot said in an interview with CNN. “It’s very tragic.”
Furthermore, the house had been hosting disabled people during the summer holidays. The group had been visiting from Nancy, a city in the northeastern French region of Grand Est, the prefecture of Haut Rhin said in a statement according to CNN.
The visitors were adults and were believed to be between the age group of 27 and 50 years old.
Moreover, the building was completely destroyed by the fire and only the ground floor remained, reported CNN.
However, the authorities are unaware of the reason for the blaze but an investigation has been going on, Hauwiller added.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said several casualties had been reported, “despite the rapid and courageous intervention of the fire department, to whom I pay tribute.”
President Emmanuel Macron also offered condolences to the victims of the fire and thanked first responders in a statement.
“Faced with this tragedy, my thoughts go out to the victims, to the injured, to their loved ones. Thank you to our security forces and our mobilized emergency services," he said.
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