Estonia mourns ten children killed in orphanage fire

Ten children died and another ten were hospitalized as a result of a fire that broke out at an orphanage of disabled children in the town of Haapsalu in West Estonia yesterday afternoon.

According to the rescue services, they received the call from an automatic fire alarm system at 2.30 pm and the first fire-fighting truck arrived already three minutes later. However, by that time one wing of the wooden building was already in flames.

At the time of the fire, there were 37 children and 9 adults in the building. Ten children and one adult have been hospitalized.

The cause of the fire is being investigated, but it is believed to have broken out in the section of bed-ridden children, Baltic Business News reports.

President Toomas Hendrik Ilves released a statement of condolences and called for flags to be flown at half-mast on February 21.

Witnesses said the building in the coastal town of 10,000 was in flames at 2:30pm on February 20. According to the local newspaper Lääne Elu, the building caught fire quickly and the middle part of the structure has collapsed, ERR News informs.