Germany: 11 injured in fire at asylum seeker center

BY|infomigrants

Police in eastern Germany are investigating a fire at an accommodation facility for asylum seekers that injured eight children and three adults. A technical cause can be ruled out, police said.

Eleven people were injured, including eight children, when a fire damaged a shared accommodation facility in the town of Friedland in the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The fire broke out Monday evening (December 26) in a third-floor apartment, according to a press release by local police.

A technical cause for the fire can be ruled out at this stage, the Neubrandenburg police department said on Tuesday. They are investigating the fire as a potential case of negligent arson.

Two of the three injured adults and eight children were reportedly brought to a hospital with breathing difficulties and suspected smoke inhalation, according to police.

The residents were from Afghanistan, Libya and Syria, investigators said. The eight apartments in the building are not habitable for the time due to damages from the fire and the water used to extinguish the flames, according to police. One apartment was completely destroyed. The property damage is estimated to be about €50,000.

Fires at accommodation facilities for migrants
Over the years, there have been a number of fires at facilities housing migrants and refugees in Germany and other European countries. Here’s an incomplete list of fires at places housing migrants and refugees in Europe or on their way to Europe over the past two years:

In October, a fire destroyed a hotel hosting Ukrainian refugees in northeastern Germany. Police believe the fire was started by a serial arsonist who was not politically motivated; the man was arrested roughly a month later.
In August, a center housing refugees in the eastern German city of Leipzig became the target of an arson attack while Germany commemorated 30 years since the Rostock-Lichtenhagen racial violence.
In June, a 35-year-old Gambian died in a fire at a camp of migrant farmworkers in southern Italy. The man was the tenth person to die in a fire at a camp in the Foggia area since 2016.
In May, at least six people were injured in Cyprus after a fire broke out at the migrant reception center in Pournara.
In February, a restaurant and cultural hub, which had become a place for migrant hospitality and inclusion in Sicily, was destroyed by a fire.
In January, three Nigerian children died in a fire at a makeshift shelter made out of plastic tarpaulin in Morocco near Spain’s Melilla enclave.
Also in January, a fire in a container village of an asylum accommodation in Bavaria, southern Germany injured two asylum seekers.
In October 2021, a man from sub-Saharan Africa died in a fire in the Italian city of Castelvetrano on the island of Sicily.
In May 2021, a 31-year-old woman and a two-year-old child died in a fire at a shelter for asylum seekers in central Germany.
Also in May 2021, a blaze destroyed an accommodation center for asylum seekers near Hamburg, northern Germany.
In February 2021, a boy died in a fire at the Thiva camp for asylum seekers in Greece. He was seven or eight years old and reportedly from a Kurdish family.
In January 2021, a 27-year-old Afghan died in a fire in an asylum seeker center in the northern German city of Hamburg.