Investigation for manslaughter opens after fire at French home for disabled adults killed 11

Advertisement

Advertise with us

PARIS (AP) — A Paris prosecutor opened a preliminary judicial investigation on Friday for unvoluntary manslaughter aggravated by breach of safety rules, after a fire left 11 dead at a vacation home housing adults with disabilities in eastern France.

Read this article for free:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Monthly Digital Subscription

$0 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*No charge for 4 weeks then price increases to the regular rate of $19.00 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

Monthly Digital Subscription

$4.75/week*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*Billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

No thanks

*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/08/2023 (839 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PARIS (AP) — A Paris prosecutor opened a preliminary judicial investigation on Friday for unvoluntary manslaughter aggravated by breach of safety rules, after a fire left 11 dead at a vacation home housing adults with disabilities in eastern France.

Wednesday’s fire killed 10 adults with slight intellectual disabilities and one person accompanying them.

The judicial investigation will seek to determine the cause of the blaze, according to a statement from the prosecutor’s office.

Fire rages at a vacation home in the town of Wintzenheim, north-eastern France, Wednesday Aug. 9, 2023. A fire ripped through a vacation home for adults with disabilities in eastern France on Wednesday, killing several people, the head of rescue operations said. (TNN/dpa via AP)
Fire rages at a vacation home in the town of Wintzenheim, north-eastern France, Wednesday Aug. 9, 2023. A fire ripped through a vacation home for adults with disabilities in eastern France on Wednesday, killing several people, the head of rescue operations said. (TNN/dpa via AP)

It comes after the discovery that required safety standards weren’t met at the private vacation house in the Alsacian town of Wintzenheim.

“The first investigations led to question the legal and material safety conditions of the building,” which was housing 28 people, the statement said.

A prosecutor in Paris has taken over the case because of the high number of victims and the scale of the investigation, it said. The case was previously being supervised by the deputy prosecutor of Colmar, in eastern France.

Vacationers were sleeping when the fire broke out early on Wednesday.

Only five of those who were staying on the upper floor of the house survived, including three vacationers and two staff accompanying them. They were all able to get out of the hospital by the end of the day on Wednesday, the statement said.

Firefighters try to contain the blaze at a vacation home in the town of Wintzenheim, north-eastern France, Wednesday Aug. 9, 2023. A fire ripped through a vacation home for adults with disabilities in eastern France on Wednesday, killing several people, the head of rescue operations said. (TNN/dpa via AP)
Firefighters try to contain the blaze at a vacation home in the town of Wintzenheim, north-eastern France, Wednesday Aug. 9, 2023. A fire ripped through a vacation home for adults with disabilities in eastern France on Wednesday, killing several people, the head of rescue operations said. (TNN/dpa via AP)

Twelve others who were staying on the ground floor were able to evacuate.

It was the deadliest fire in France since an August 2016 blaze that killed 14 people in a basement nightclub in the western city of Rouen.

Report Error Submit a Tip