Residential building in Offenbach burns down - two dead
A residential building in Offenbach goes up in flames. Two people die in the devastating fire. One of them is a child. Three other people are seriously injured.
Two people died and three others were seriously injured in the fire in a three-storey residential building in Offenbach city center. The fatalities include a small child and a person who has not yet been identified, according to the fire department.
The child was initially rescued from the burning house by the emergency services, but later died in hospital. The as yet unidentified fatality could not be rescued from the flames. "It was so hot that the emergency services had to retreat," said a fire department spokesperson. "A situation like this is not easy for the emergency services either." Other residents were rescued.
According to previous information, there were five people in the house at the time of the fire on Tuesday evening. The three injured people were taken to hospital with burns and smoke inhalation. According to initial findings, more than 30 people were living in the three-storey building, a police spokesperson said. A directly adjacent neighboring building was evacuated as a precaution.
All three floors of the residential building burned out by Tuesday evening. The fire was under control by around 8.30 p.m., but extinguishing work continued until well after midnight. "We can't go into the building at the moment because the ceilings are in danger of collapsing. This also makes it difficult to extinguish the embers, as they keep flaring up," said the fire department spokesperson. The operation will continue until the early hours of the morning. The dead person could also not be rescued from the house until daylight at the earliest.
Around 180 firefighters were on site to fight the fire. The streets around the scene were cordoned off for the extinguishing operation. It was still unclear on Wednesday morning where and why the fire broke out. The police and fire department are still in action, said a police spokesperson.
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The tragic incident occurred in a residential building located in the heart of Offenbach, a city in the German state of Hesse. International organizations and local authorities have expressed their condolences following the fire, which claimed the lives of two individuals, including a child, and left three others critically injured. The Hesse Fire department is currently investigating the cause of the fire.
Source: www.ntv.de
