Eleven dead and two missing after fire at holiday home in France

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Authorities have found 11 corpses after a fire ravaged a center housing holidaying adults with learning difficulties in Wintzenheim in eastern France. /Sebastien Bozon/AFP

A fire that tore through a holiday home housing disabled people in eastern France has killed 11 people, authorities have confirmed.

The blaze broke out before 6.30 a.m. (0430 GMT) and ravaged the two-story building in the town of Wintzenheim, about 70 kilometers south of Strasbourg.

"We think we have located the 11 bodies," a firefighter told Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne as she visited the site of the incident. Eight bodies have been found and three more were thought to have been located under the rubble. Among the dead, 10 had disabilities and one was a carer, officials said.

The holiday home was rented for the summer by two charities that take care of people with learning disabilities. Twenty-eight people were staying there, and 17 of them managed to escape the fire, officials said.

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Authorities say that 11 people died in the blaze, while 17 were able to escape. /Sebastien Bozon/AFP

"A few of the people who were (sleeping) on the first floor managed to escape, but most of those who got out were on the ground floor," Lieutenant Colonel Philippe Hauwiller, who headed the rescue operations, told reporters.

The fire destroyed about two-thirds of the building.

The early onset of the blaze and its quick spread meant that "people were caught in their sleep," Wintzenheim deputy mayor Daniel Leroy told BFM TV. He said those missing were likely to have been aged between 25 and 50.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, who visited the area, said earlier in a social media post: "My thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones." President Emmanuel Macron spoke of a "tragedy."