At least 11 people have been killed and 30 more injured when a fire ripped through a retirement home in Tuzla in northern Bosnia, police said Wednesday.
The blaze engulfed the seventh floor of the old nine-storey building at around 7:45 p.m. GMT on Tuesday, sending flames and smoke pouring out of the top floors into the night sky. The cause was not immediately clear.
Local media said many of the dead had disabilities and those rescued were moved by emergency crews from the upper floors to lower ones. Some of the injured were in critical condition.
Identification of the victims will start later Wednesday and an investigation into the cause of the fire will start once conditions allow it, police said.
"Authorities are taking all necessary actions to shed light on the conditions that caused this tragic event", the retirement home said in a statement.
The separatist Republika Srpska (RS), or the so-called Serb Republic, of Bosnia and Herzegovina, also offered its assistance to Tuzla.
"We feel the pain and are always ready to help," Savo Minic, prime minister of the RS wrote on X.
