9 people die in building fire in Germany

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
At least nine people, including five children, have died in a fire at a four-story apartment building in southwest Germany, police said Monday. Police found eight bodies inside the building in the city of Ludwigshafen and one woman died in hospital, police spokeswoman Simone Eisenbarth said. Twenty-four people remain in hospital, two of them in critical condition. "Unfortunately, we cannot exclude further victims," Eisenbarth said. The cause of the fire, which started Sunday afternoon, was not clear and the victims had not yet been identified, she said. More than 500 firefighters tried to put out the fire at the building. Eisenbarth said 52 people were registered as living there but there had been a party in one of the apartments attended by many guests.