2023-08-09 16:04:25
People with mental disabilities were spending their holidays in an establishment in the Haut-Rhin, destroyed by the flames on Wednesday.
The holidays have turned tragic. A fire destroyed a lodging in which people with mental disabilities were staying, Wednesday August 9, in Wintzenheim (Haut-Rhin). The fire, which broke out around 6:30 a.m., was brought under control thanks to the intervention of nearly 80 firefighters. Eleven victims have however been counted, announced the prosecution of Colmar.
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Search operations are continuing in order to extract the bodies from the rubble of this building located in a town bordering Colmar. It’s about deadliest disaster in France since the fire in a bar in Rouen in 2016.
A residence destroyed by fire
The fire broke out overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday and caused a “widespread conflagration” of the first and second floors of an Alsatian-style half-timbered building, located in Wintzenheim, according to firefighters. Arrived on site at 7 a.m., the first deputy mayor of the city, Daniel Leroy, found that he “there was already nothing”. “The building was completely consumed in its upper part, the roof was completely collapsed”, he told franceinfo. According to the Haut-Rhin prefecture, 300 m2 were destroyed by the flames, out of the 500 m2 that the building had.
This building, divided into two lodgings, is on a closed ground, with several other buildings. It was his owner, living nearby, who gave the alert shortly after 6:30 a.m. Help arrived at 6:45 a.m. Seventy-six firefighters were deployed, along with four vans, four ambulances, an advanced medical post and three ladders. The fire was brought under control around 8:30 a.m. Forty soldiers from the gendarmerie were also mobilized.
A stay for people with mental disabilities
The lodgings hosted two groups of people with a slight mental disability, from Meurthe-et-Moselle and Doubs. They had registered for this trip through two associations. LThe association AEIM-ADAPEI 54, which supports disabled people in Meurthe-et-Moselle, said in a press release that this stay was organized by “an external service provider”the specialized agency Oxygene Adapted Holidays. “Pending further information, the AEIM is already deploying a monitoring and support unit available to the families and loved ones concerned”she wrote on Wednesday.
Twelve people came from Franche-Comté, said the Doubs prefecture. All escaped the fire unscathed.
Eleven people killed in fire
According to the secretary general of the Haut-Rhin prefecture, 28 people were on site at the time of the incident. Only 17 of them were able to escape the flames. These are two guides and fifteen other adults, told franceinfo Lieutenant Colonel Philippe Hauwiller, firefighter commanding the rescue operation.
Eleven bodies were located in the rubble, announced the deputy prosecutor of the Republic of Colmar, Nathalie Kielwasser. Their bodies will be extracted, but the operations are “difficult” because of “rubble and collapsed parts”as well as “unstable ground” of the building, detailed Lieutenant-Colonel Philippe Hauwiller. Among the victims are ten vacationers and a supervisor, said Christophe Marot, secretary general of the Haut-Rhin prefecture.
DNA and scanner analyzes will be carried out in order to identify the victims within 48 hours to four days, i.e. by Monday August 14 at the most, assured Nathalie Kielwasser, during a trip to the scene of the tragedy. .
The Haut-Rhin prefecture also lists “a person in relative emergency evacuated to the hospital and a shocked person”. She announced the establishment of an national telephone number, 09 70 80 90 40, “who will be the only point of entry for collecting calls and informing the families concerned”. A medico-psychological emergency cell has also been set up to take care of the survivors, according to the firefighters. The town hall of Wintzenheim has also declared that a “ecumenical ceremony will take place [mercredi] at 7 p.m. at the Saint-Laurent church, to pay tribute to the victims and their families..
The origin of the fire unknown at this stage
At this stage, we do not know what started the fire but, according to the vice-prosecutor of Colmar, it would be“a fire that smoldered (…), with wood that must have taken several hours to ignite”. The magistrate clarified that “Investigations are underway to find out whether the lodgings complied with the standards in force”. According to the first deputy mayor of Wintzenheim, Daniel Leroy, this residence worked “Alright” and had been renovated in 2022.
A judicial inquiry “on the causes of death” the victims was opened by the Colmar public prosecutor’s office. It was entrusted to the gendarmerie research section of Strasbourg and to the criminal research institute of the national gendarmerie.
The Prime Minister visited
After the tragedy, reactions multiplied among elected officials and politicians. “Faced with this tragedy, my thoughts go out to the victims, to the injured, to their loved ones”wrote President Emmanuel Macron on Twitter.
The Prime Minister went there around 3 p.m., accompanied from the Minister of Solidarity, Aurore Bergé. In front of the press, the head of government announced “all [sa] sadness and [sa] solidarity” facing a “dreadful drama”adding “bring everything [son] support for the families of the victims and the rescue forces who intervened quickly”. Elisabeth Borne was to meet relatives of the missing in the afternoon.
“We are alongside families and professionals from associations and structures who have sent their residents to this holiday centre”, reacted on franceinfo the socialist mayor of Nancy, Mathieu Klein. He assures that “all means will be implemented to support them over the long term”.
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