A fire that destroyed a nursing home in Northeast Bosnia-Herzegovina killed 10 people and injured 20, local police said.
Blaze started on Tuesday night at the retirement facility in the city of Tuzla, breaking free on the seventh floor shortly after 20:45 local time (19:45 GMT).
About 20 people were sent to a medical center for treatment, including firefighters, police officers, medical workers, home employees, a police spokesman.
While the cause of the fire was not immediately clear, Prime Minister Nermin Nikšić called it “a disaster of great proportions”.
“According to preliminary information, 10 residents of the Tuzla retirement home lost their lives in the fire,” said the police spokesman.
Officials said a full investigation will be conducted once conditions are safe.
The Chairman of Bosnia-Herzegovina Comedy of Bosniavina, also gave thanks to the families of the victims and the injured, received National Broadcaster Bhrt.
A resident of the nursing home, Roza Kajic, said she lives on the third floor of the building and woke up after hearing a “cracking sound”.
“I looked out the window and I saw burning material falling from a height. I ran down the hall. On the upper floors, there were people lying in bed,” he told Bhrt.
Footage from the scene showed flames shooting from windows on a top floor of the care home.
According to a spokesperson for the Tuzla University Clinic Center, several patients were treated for carbon monoxide poisoning, three of them in intensive care, local media reported.