According to police, at least four people died in the fire at a retirement home in Bedburg-Hau, North Rhine-Westphalia. Three people were seriously injured, one of which “cannot be ruled out as life-threatening,” said a spokeswoman South German newspaper. A firefighter and a police officer were among the seriously injured. 15 other people were slightly injured.
The fire broke out at around 3:50 a.m., said the police spokeswoman. The cause of the fire and the location of the outbreak are part of the investigation.
When the fire brigade arrived early in the morning around 5 a.m., WDR quotes a spokesman, the situation was already dramatic. The fire brigade had to break some windows in order to bring the residents to safety. The fire department was no longer able to access some areas of the two-story building because the fire had already spread so far.
The fire department now appears to have the situation under control. The police spokeswoman said that extinguishing work was still ongoing. The injured are in the hospital.
Bedburg-Hau is located on the lower Lower Rhine in the Kleve district, close to the border with the Netherlands. The town has just over 13,000 inhabitants.