Police said the cause of the fire was not yet clear and a criminal investigation was “in full swing”.
As a result of a fire in a refugee shelter in the city of Apolda in the east of the German federal state of Thuringia on Sunday morning, June 4, one child died, a dozen more people were hospitalized, reports DW.
The fire broke out at five in the morning local time (06:00 Kyiv time). According to eyewitnesses, the fire reached a height of several meters.
The district administration said 245 people from Afghanistan, Syria and Ukraine were registered at the refugee shelter, which is now uninhabitable.
A man’s body was found in a burned building. At the same time, a 9-year-old boy from Ukraine is missing. Authorities said a forensic examination is needed to determine if the body found in the building belongs to the missing child.
Police said the cause of the fire was not yet clear and a criminal investigation was “in full swing”. Such an investigation is standard practice after fatal fires and does not indicate suspicion of any criminal activity.
Shelter residents, who were rescued by firefighters, were transferred to another refugee reception center in nearby Germsdorf. They were accompanied by police officers and interpreters.
Ten people were taken to the hospital. Some of them suffered from smoke inhalation, and one person suffered a broken leg, local media reported.
Thuringian Interior Minister Georg Mayer expressed his concern at the “terrible news” in Apolda. And the Federal Minister of the Interior, Nancy Feather, said that the federal security authorities are ready to cooperate with the Thuringian authorities.
It can be recalled that the National Police launched the Reunite Ukraine mobile application to search for missing children, which will help reunite Ukrainian families who have lost contact due to war or have been illegally deported.
Source: korrespondent
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