A fire broke out on Monday, July 28, at a cottage in south-western France where adults with learning disabilities had gone on holiday, killing three people, local authorities said. Including the two owners, 14 people, aged 20 to 75, were inside the stone house when the blaze broke out, with the incident taking place before dawn in the village of Montmoreau, they said. The guests included eight people with learning disabilities, as well as four assistants.
Firemen arrived on site 20 minutes after they were called, but rescue teams were unable to resuscitate one person they evacuated, declaring them dead by asphyxiation, deputy prefect Jean-Charles Jobart said. They then found two bodies in the remains of the house, he said. Two people were announced as still being missing. Up to 85 firefighters were called in to help, with some still battling the flames mid-morning, including on the scorched roof of the renovated farmhouse, an Agence France-Presse (AFP) reporter at the scene said.
Jobart said state services had inspected the cottage two years ago and approved it to welcome people with disabilities during the holidays.
The fire comes almost two years after another blaze at a holiday home hosting adults with learning disabilities and their companions killed 11 people in eastern France. A prosecutor found that the home in the town of Wintzenheim was unlicensed and flouting fire security standards required for such a property. The guests on the lower floor of the timbered residence all managed to escape alive, but those on the upper floor found themselves trapped.
It was the deadliest such fire disaster in the country since a blaze at a bar in the northern city of Rouen killed 14 people in 2016.