Death toll from French vacation home fire increases to 11

Aug. 10 (UPI) -- The death toll from a fire that damaged a vacation home for disabled people in northeastern France rose to 11 late Wednesday after a public prosecutor confirmed the location of two bodies that remains in the building.

The fire service's Lt. Col. Philippe Hauwiller said drones identified two bodies that were initially reported as missing near the front door of the destroyed building. The cause of the fire at Wintzenheim in the Haut-Rhin, near Colmar, was still under investigation.

"It's hard to say at this stage how the fire started or how it spread so quickly and with such intensity," Hauwiller said. "Some people from the first floor managed to escape, but most of those who escaped were from the ground floor."

Hauwiller said firefighters arrived at the renovated barn at about 6:30 a.m. local time but the fire was already intense.

"We arrived quickly, within a quarter of an hour, and the fire had spread throughout the building," he said. "Seventeen people had escaped but sadly, given the situation, 11 people were still in the building for whom no action was possible."

Officials said most of the victims likely died from smoke inhalation. A firefighter told Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne that one person was hospitalized for smoke inhalation.

Those inside the home included people with mental disabilities and people accompanying them on an organized trip, French President Emmanuel Macron, said. The gathering was put together by two separate groups dedicated to working with people with disabilities.

Borne arrived in Wintzenheim on Wednesday afternoon in support of the victims.

"With the prime minister, we are going there to support the victims, their families, the supervisors and to pay tribute to the emergency services," said Aurore Berge, the country's minister for solidarity, personal independence and disabled people, who accompanied Borne.