Eleven people have died in a fire at a lodge for people with disabilities in Wintzenheim, in the French department of Haut-Rhin, the Deputy Public Prosecutor of Colmar, seat of the prefecture of Haut Rhin, confirmed on Wednesday..
"I can confirm 11 victims," Deputy Public Prosecutor Nathalie Kielwasser said at a press briefing at the scene of the tragedy. "The origin is probably a smouldering fire at the moment," she said, although it was not possible "at this stage" to determine "the causes of this smouldering fire."
The fire brigade was called at around 6.30 a.m. to the building, located in the locality of La Forge, a hamlet surrounded by green hills.
The lodge, which housed adults with mild mental disabilities, was rented by a Nancy-based association called Oxygène vacances adaptées, according to the Colmar city authorities.
The secretary general of Haut-Rhin prefecture, Christophe Marot, had said earlier that 28 people were on site at the time of the fire and that only 17 were evacuated.
The half-timbered Alsatian-style building was the scene of a "generalised blaze," according to the fire brigade.
