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Fire kills 14 at German workshop for disabled | Fire kills 14 at German workshop for disabled |
(about 3 hours later) | |
At least 14 people have died and seven people were injured in a major fire at a workshop for disabled people in south-western Germany. | |
The blaze occurred at the centre run by the Caritas charity in the Black Forest town of Titisee-Neustadt, some 40km (25 miles) east of Freiburg. | |
About 50 people were believed to be in the building when the fire started. | |
The cause is unclear, but local media reports that there may have been an explosion in a store room. | |
The centre is reportedly used for woodwork and metalwork, but it is not known whether if any flammable materials were on site. | |
'Devastating' | 'Devastating' |
The blaze occurred at about 14:00 local time (13:00 GMT), and flames were first spotted on the roof of the modern three-storey building. | |
The fire quickly took hold and engulfed the building. Smoke was still billowing out of the building more than an hour after the fire started. | |
More than 100 firefighters backed by helicopters were called to the scene - some, wearing breathing apparatus, braved the thick smoke to rescue a number of people trapped inside. | |
But police confirmed that not every one made it out. | |
"We can tell you that we have 14 dead. The process of identification is ongoing," local police spokesman Karl-Heinz Schmid told N24 television. He said it would "take days" for the investigation to get to the cause of the fire. | |
Police confirmed that seven people had been injured, mainly suffering from smoke inhalation, but none of the injuries were life-threatening. | |
The centre is run by Caritas, a relief organisation affiliated with the Catholic Church, and offers range of workshops to people with both mental and physical disabilities. | |
Police have spoken of the bewilderment of many of the survivors by what had happened. | |
The town's mayor Armin Hinterseh said the buildings were quite new. "It is devastating. We now have to find out how it happened," he told the local daily Badische Zeitung. |