A fire at a refugee reception center in eastern Germany has killed one person and injured at least eight others, according to local police. Police in the German state of Thuringia said the fire broke out around 5am at a facility in the town of Apolda and one person had died.
The shelter, which housed 300 people, was evacuated and residents were taken to another refugee center in nearby Hermsdorf, a local government spokesman told German news agency Dpa. Police told dpa that eight people were injured in the fire. An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the fire, the news agency said.
The mayor of Apolda, Rüdiger Eisenbrand, in a statement reported by the newspaper’s website Bildreports that a nine-year-old boy would have died. The same newspaper, quoting the police, adds that he is of Ukrainian nationality. This information is also reported by the local broadcaster Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk and by the online edition of the Tagesspiegel newspaper, which however specify that the identification of the victim is not yet certain.