Two apartment fires leave one dead, 17 injured

Among the injured in Hesse were a fire fighter and 16 residents, who all suffered from smoke inhalation during the strong blaze in the five-storey building. The 55-year-old female building owner and another 40-year-old resident were hospitalised for observation, police said.

Preliminary investigations lead authorities to believe that the fire was started by a defective television on the third floor. By the time fire fighters arrived flames were already leaping from windows and the stairwell was full of smoke.

Several residents were evacuated via turntable ladder because they could no longer make it through the smoke, police said.

Meanwhile in Bremen, another apartment fire on Tuesday evening in the city centre left a 52-year-old woman dead. A neighbour called emergency services when she smelled smoke, but when fire fighters arrived the woman in the apartment was already unconscious and died at the scene a short time later.