9 dead, 2 missing after fire at holiday home for disabled people in France

Nine bodies were found in the smouldering ruins of a holiday home housing disabled people that caught fire in the early hours of Wednesday in eastern France, a chief firefighter said.

Two more missing people were also feared dead.

"We are looking for the bodies of those who could not leave the building," Lieutenant Colonel Philippe Hauwiller, who headed the rescue operations, told reporters. "Nine bodies were located, two cannot be found for now."

The fire broke out at 6:30 am (0430GMT) and quickly ravaged the building, officials said.

The holiday home in the town of Wintzenheim, about 70 km south of Strasbourg, was rented for the summer by a charity that takes care of people with learning disabilities.

The fire broke out so early that "people were caught in their sleep," Wintzenheim deputy mayor Daniel Leroy told BFM TV.

Seventeen people were evacuated, one of whom was sent to hospital, the local prefecture said. It said that those missing were from a group of people from the city of Nancy, a two-hour drive away.

Leroy told BFM that those missing were likely to have been aged between 25 and 50.

France 3 had said earlier that the 11 missing included 10 adults with disabilities and one charity staff.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said she was headed to the site. "My thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones," she posted on social media. President Emmanuel Macron spoke of a "tragedy".