Several dead in fire at nursing home in Germany

At least four people have died in a fire at a nursing home in western Germany, German media reports. Dozens of people are taken care of by the care.

The retirement home is located in the town of Bedburg-Hau, which is next to the border with the Netherlands in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The fire broke out at five o’clock in the morning.

– This is a highly dramatic situation that leaves no one untouched, not even the emergency services. Everyone is in shock, says local fire department spokesman Michael Hendricks, according to the newspaper Rheinischer Post.

The fire department responded to an automatic alarm and when they arrived at the residence, they began to break windows to evacuate residents.

A firefighter and a police officer are counted among the tens of people described as injured or affected. For at least one person, the condition is described as serious.

The cause of the fire has not been clarified, but according to the fire brigade it appears to have started in one of the residents’ rooms.