A devastating fire that raged through a vacation home for adults with disabilities in eastern France on Wednesday left 11 people dead, an official said, Euronews reported.

Nathalie Kielwasser, the deputy prosecutor for Colmar, said 11 people who were sleeping on the upper floor and in a mezzanine area of the private accommodation in the town of Wintzenheim were trapped by the fire, while five others managed to escape.

The fire broke out at 6:30am.

Seventeen people were evacuated, and one with severe injuries was taken to the hospital.

There were 28 people in the building, and most of them came to rest from various regions of France, as well as their companions from the city of Nancy.