Fire At Austria Home For Elderly Kills 11

A fire that engulfed a home for the elderly in western Austria on Friday left 11 people dead and six others injured, a local government spokesman said.

When the blaze broke out Friday night in the town of Egg, there were 23 residents and two supervisors in the building, which also functioned as a nursing home, said Thomas Mair, a spokesman for Vorarlberg province government.

"There are 11 dead and six injured - three of them seriously," Mair said, without giving details.

About 250 firefighters put out the blaze, Mair said. He could not say how long it took to do so.

Authorities are investigating the cause of the fire, which started in a room of the first floor of the multistory building and quickly spread to the rest of the facility, according to the Austria Press Agency.

APA said those who were killed had been especially in need of care.

Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer arrived in Egg late Friday, APA reported.

"It is a catastrophe, completely terrible," the news agency quoted Gusenbauer as saying.

He also praised the "great work" of all those involved in the firefighting and rescue operation, and expressed hope that those who were injured would survive.

Vorarlberg Governor Herbert Sausgruber said the province had been hit by a "tragic event ... a grave disaster."

Austrian broadcaster ORF reported that the building was 140 years old and that thick smoke had hampered the rescue efforts.

Just last week, nine people - five of them children - perished in a blaze in an apartment building in Ludwigshafen in neighboring Germany.