Four dead and 15 injured as huge blaze rips through retirement home overnight

04 March 2024 , 06:39

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An elderly resident is escorted out of the care home in Germany (Image: tv-niederrhein)

An enormous blaze has torn through a retirement home in Germany, killing at least four and injuring dozens more.

At around 5am this morning, the fire department in Qualburg, Bedburg Hau in Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia state, responded to reports of an inferno at the House Simon care home. By 7.30am, the police and fire brigade presence was still a "strong force", local media reported.

The fire department said they had to carry out a daring rescue, in which some of the windows had to be smashed to reach the residents trapped inside.

But the flames had spread so far through the two-storey building that some of the areas could not be accessed. It's understood that the fatal victims lived in these areas. Reports say that 32 of the gutted rooms are now uninhabitable.

Some residents were treated for minor injuries at the residence, while others were rushed to a local hospital for urgent treatment.

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The fire quickly spread through the two-storey building, leaving some areas completely inaccessible due to the inferno (Bedburg-Hau fire department)

At least four were killed and another individual is in critical condition (Bedburg-Hau fire department)

One individual is in critical condition. A firefighter and a police officer were also seriously injured. Another 15 people were left with more minor injuries. The operation involved the evacuation of all 46 residents of the retirement home, Bild reports. It's currently unknown how the fire was started. The fire department is carrying out an investigation into the cause of the blaze. The 13,000-person town of Bedburg-Hau is situated on the Lower Rhine in Kleve, which is close to the Dutch border.

In July last year, six people were killed and 81 residents injured after a similar blaze at a retirement home in Milan, Italy. Two of the injured were left in critical condition after being rushed to local hospital.

Milanese outlet Il Giorno said those injured were around the age of 80. Local officials confirmed the fatal victims were five women, aged 75, 84 and 85 and one man, aged 73. Two of the females were charred to death, while three other women and one man died of smoke inhalation.

The mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, told local media that the fire originated in a single room on the first floor of the building. Il Giorno reported that the two women who were burned to death were residents of that room.

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Ryan Fahey