Seven children among eight dead in apartment fire in Germany

Berlin: An early-morning fire today at an apartment building in southwestern Germany left eight people dead, seven of them children, police said.

Three other people were injured in the fire in Backnang, a town near Stuttgart, and taken to hospitals. Police said the victims were of Turkish origin, news agency DPA reported; Turkey`s ambassador to Germany planned to travel to the scene. Authorities were alerted to the blaze at 4:30 am (0330 GMT). Police said they believe the fire broke out in a second-floor apartment, and said in a statement that their investigation is focusing on a heater in the apartment. The building is part of a former leather factory that was converted into a row of three-story apartment blocks. Police said a German-Turkish cultural association has an office on the building`s ground floor. They said there was no indication that the fire might have been set deliberately or have been a racist attack. PTI PTI