NRW
Toddler missing after Solingen fire – “Chance is disappearing”
A firefighter fights the fire in an apartment building from a turntable ladder. photo
© Gianni Gattus/Blaulicht Solingen/dpa
Dramatic major fire in an old building in Solingen: Three people are killed in the flames and several are seriously injured. A small child is still missing.
The fire probably broke out on the first floor of the approximately 100-year-old house with wooden ceilings and a wooden staircase and spread rapidly, said a fire department spokesman. In the morning, around 120 emergency services had the fire under control, but extinguishing work was still ongoing. The cause of fire was unclear for the moment.
The advancing firefighters discovered the dead in the attic of the four-story house with the roof removed, the spokesman said. The house was massively destroyed in the fire and the stairwell partially collapsed. A person jumped out of a window to escape the flames.
It is suspected that the dead were members of a family. There was initially no confirmation of this.