11 missing after fire sweeps through care home for disabled people in NE France

By Nur Asena Erturk

Eleven people are missing on Wednesday after a fire swept through a care home for the disabled in northeastern France, local media reported.

The firefighters evacuated 17 people but 11 others are missing from the center, including at least one caregiver, with the rest presumably residents at the center.

The center was a private one dedicated to taking care of the disabled, located in the town of Wintzenheim in the Haut-Rhin department, used by a group from the nearby city of Nancy, according to broadcaster France Bleu.

Firefighters took control of the blaze very quickly, but not before it had burned 300 square meters (3,230 square feet) of the 500-square-meter (5,382-square-foot) building.