Eleven dead in high-rise fire in the Czech Republic

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 Firefighters fighting the fire in Bohumín

At least eleven people, including three children, died in a fire in a skyscraper in the Czech Republic. A fire department spokesman said on Saturday, according to the CTK agency. Ten residents and three emergency services were injured. The fire broke out in the late afternoon in an apartment on the 11th floor of the 13-story prefabricated building in the town of Bohumin (Oderberg) on ​​the border with Poland, the police said.

The investigators assumed that the fire had been set on purpose, said Interior Minister Jan Hamacek in the evening on the CT station. "It was probably a neighborhood dispute that had been going on for a long time," reported the Social Democrat. One person was provisionally arrested. According to the fire department, the flames spread unusually quickly. That could indicate a fire accelerator like gasoline.

"There are intensive investigations into the circumstances and causes of this tragic event," said a police spokeswoman. With eleven dead, it is the worst fire disaster in the history of the country in 30 years. The fire brigade was on site with a large number and several special turntable ladders. A rescue helicopter was also in use.

Eyewitnesses told Czech media that desperate people jumped out of the window while trying to escape from smoke and flames. "I saw two people sitting on the windowsill who were on fire. Then one of them jumped - I couldn't watch any further," said a woman of the online edition of the newspaper "Pravo".

"Terrible, I heard the screams all the way to the children's playground," said another resident. A crisis intervention team should take care of the witnesses to the accident. Fire chief Vladimir Vlcek said it was tragic that only seconds were missing before the jump cushion was inflated.

Bohumin is located around 300 kilometers east of Prague and has a population of almost 21,000. The industrial city is an important rail hub. Just last December, eight people were killed in an explosion and fire in a prefabricated building in Presov in neighboring Slovakia.

bah / AFP / dpa