Eleven migrants, eight of them children, were injured after an asylum accommodation in north-eastern Germany caught fire this week, with investigators theorizing the cause to be negligent arson.
The fire broke out on Monday in the asylum accommodation in the town of Friedland in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on the third floor of the apartment building as police stated in a press release that their current theory is the blaze was caused by negligent arson and that any technical cause has been ruled out.
“Three adults and eight children were injured due to the heavy smoke. Of these, two children and one adult have Afghan citizenship, six children and one adult were born in Libya but are currently stateless and one adult has Syrian citizenship,” the police said.
According to the police, one of the adults was discharged at the scene by emergency services, while the remaining migrants were taken to a local hospital with breathing issues and probable smoke poisoning.
“A complaint for negligent aggravated arson was recorded. The eight apartments are not habitable for the time being due to the consequences of the fire and the extinguishing water. One apartment was completely destroyed,” the police said.
The incident is not the first time an asylum home in Germany has caught fire in recent years, with some cases reported to be deliberate arson, such as a case in 2017 in the town of Hövelhof-Staumühle which saw three asylum seekers later arrested for setting a former military barracks ablaze after allegedly being frustrated with the accommodation.
Prosecutors allege the three had made threats to staff at the home on the day of the fires and had smashed up furniture before setting it on fire.
Other European countries have seen similar “protests” in asylum homes or detention centres, with a Moroccan dying from smoke inhalation last week in an Italian migrant detention centre in Brindisi due to asphyxiation when several fires were lit by other migrants within the detention centre.
Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.
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