The fire broke out on the seventh floor at around 8:45 p.m.
Ten people died and about 20 were injured in a fire that broke out late on November 4 in a nursing home in northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, police said.
“According to preliminary information, 10 residents of the nursing home in Tuzla died in the fire,” a police spokesman said.
About 20 people, including firefighters, police officers, medical workers, employees and residents of the home, received medical assistance at the University of Tuzla Clinical Center.
The nursing home reported earlier that the fire broke out on the seventh floor at around 8:45 p.m. (9:45 p.m. Bulgarian time) and claimed the lives of 10 residents. The fire has been brought under control, AFP reported.
“I was lying down when I heard a popping sound. I don’t know if it was the windows in my room that broke. I live on the third floor (of the home). I looked out the window and saw burning materials falling from above. I ran out into the hallway. There are people confined to bed on the upper floors,” Ruzha Kaich, a resident of the home, told national television BHRT.
Footage from the scene of the incident, published by local media, shows the fire on one of the upper floors of the nursing home building.
Police said a full investigation into the cause of the fire would be conducted as soon as conditions allowed.
The chairman of the tripartite presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Željko Komšić, offered his condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured, BHRT reported.
The Prime Minister of the Muslim-Croat entity, Nermin NikÅ¡ić, described the fire as a “catastrophe of enormous proportions.” | BGNES