Enlarge image
A firefighter at the scene of the fire in Solingen
Photo: David Young / dpa
In the major fire in an old building in Solingen, the missing infant was also found dead, a police spokesman said. The fire brigade had previously found three people dead, including another child. The four victims were a family, a city spokeswoman confirmed.
“It is a day of mourning for our entire city,” said Solingen Mayor Tim Kurzbach. The SPD politician ordered the mourning flags to be displayed for the town hall.
According to the city, nine people were taken to hospitals with varying degrees of serious injuries.
Enlarge image
Mayor Kurzbach: Day of mourning
Photo: David Young / dpa
The fire probably broke out on the first floor of the approximately 100-year-old house with a wooden staircase and spread rapidly, said a fire department spokesman. The emergency services had the fire under control in the morning, but extinguishing work was still ongoing. The cause of fire was unclear for the moment.
Staircase partially collapsed
The advancing firefighters discovered the dead in the attic of the four-story house, the spokesman said. The house was massively destroyed in the fire and the stairwell partially collapsed.
To escape the flames, several people jumped out of upstairs windows into the street, the city said. One person landed on a car roof even though the fire department had just set up a jumping cushion.
Escape route “completely burned away”
The fire was reported to the fire department shortly before three a.m., the city announced. The emergency services were at the scene of the fire within six minutes. When they arrived, the wooden stairwell was “fully burning red,” said the operations manager. The escape route was “completely burned away.”
The city had assigned a bus to quickly accommodate uninjured residents, he said. Emergency chaplains looked after residents and firefighters. To clarify the background, a murder squad took over the investigation.
kub/dpa