Eight people were killed in a fire that broke out in the early hours of Sunday in a special needs home located in the Czech town of Vejprty, local media reported.
"A total of 38 people were affected by the fire, of them eight unfortunately died", emergency services spokesman Prokop Volenik was quoted by the media as saying.
The emergency service for the Usti nad Labem region originally reported that a retirement home had caught fire, but Vejprty's Municipal Social Services Administration director Viktor Kolacek specified that it was a home for the disabled.
The fire was reported at about 4:49 a.m., but it was soon localised and is no longer spreading, according to fire rescue services as quoted by the Czech media.
President Andrej Babiš has described the incident as a terrible tragedy and expressed his deepest condolences.
Firefighters, police officers, and seven medical crews, including two from Germany, are currently working on the scene.
