Blaze kills 21 people in Polish homeless shelter
Güncelleme Tarihi:
The Associated Press
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Nisan 14, 2009 00:00
WARSAW - A fast-moving fire tore through a three-story building housing homeless families in northwestern Poland early yesterday, killing at least 21 people and injuring 20 more, including an infant, officials said.
The blaze broke out around 1 a.m. in a shelter for people waiting for social housing in Kamien Pomorski, 370 miles (600 kilometers) northwest of the Polish capital and near the Baltic Sea coast, said Pawel Fratczak, a spokesman for Poland's national firefighters.
"While searching the building again this morning, we found the bodies of three more people, raising the toll to 21 dead," Fratczak said. "It is going to be hard to identify many of them quickly because they are so badly burned."
"I couldn't breath, so I opened the window, and looked out, and the door was on fire because it was essentially made of paper," an unidentified survivor told reporters in footage shown on TVN24 television. It was not immediately clear what caused the blaze, but police and fire investigators were examining the scene for clues.
"While searching the building again this morning, we found the bodies of three more people, raising the toll to 21 dead," Fratczak said. "It is going to be hard to identify many of them quickly because they are so badly burned."
"I couldn't breath, so I opened the window, and looked out, and the door was on fire because it was essentially made of paper," an unidentified survivor told reporters in footage shown on TVN24 television. It was not immediately clear what caused the blaze, but police and fire investigators were examining the scene for clues.