Nine corpses were found Wednesday following a fire at a centre in eastern France where a group of adults with learning disabilities were taking their holidays.
The toll could climb further as authorities initially recorded 11 people missing in the town of Wintzenheim, with President Emmanuel Macron describing the disaster as a “tragedy”.
The secretary general of the Haut Rhin prefecture in eastern France, Christophe Marot, said there was “little doubt” the missing had been in the burning building and had not been able to escape.
“We have located nine bodies and we are still looking for two,” Philippe Hauwiller, who is leading the fire brigade search operation, told AFP.
Deputy mayor Daniel Leroy said earlier three bodies had been found using a drone but others were later found with direct searches and with dogs.
The local fire service told AFP authorities were alerted about the blaze in Wintzenheim at around 6:30 am (0430 GMT).
“The fire was quickly brought under control despite the intensity of the flames,” the prefecture the Haut-Rhin region said in a statement.
It said seventeen people were safely evacuated, with one person hospitalised and another treated for shock.
Those staying at the centre were part of a group of adults who had come from the nearby city of Nancy for the holidays.
“In Wintzenheim, the flames ravaged a lodging which accommodated people with disabilities and their companions. In the face of this tragedy, my thoughts go out to the victims, to the injured and to their loved ones,” Macron wrote on Twitter, which is being rebranded as X.
