Three children were among 11 people killed in a fire Saturday at an apartment block in the Czech Republic that police believe was set deliberately.
Police said one person was detained in connection with the blaze that saw five people jump to their deaths in the eastern city of Bohumin near the Polish border.
Regional police chief Tomas Kuzel told public Czech Television that police suspected arson was the cause and that they had detained one person in the case.
“I think we are good when it comes to the culprit,” Kuzel said without specifying whether the detained person would be charged with arson.
He likened the fire to a case in 2013 when a man caused a gas explosion and fire that killed three children and two other people as well as himself. He reportedly hated his fellow tenants.
“It’s similar,” Kuzel said of the conflagration seven years ago in the eastern Czech town of Frenstat. “The culprit there also basically liquidated a block of flats and left many people dead.”
Lukas Popp, spokesman for local firefighters, told AFP the fire had broken out on the 11th floor of the concrete block of flats in Bohumin on the Czech-Polish border.
“Six people died on this floor, including three children and three adults – and a dog,” he added.
People look on as firefighters work at the scene where a fire broke out in an apartment block in Bohumin, Czech Republic on Saturday. Photo: AFP
