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Update: eleven dead in fire at NE France holiday gite

The bodies of 11 people, who were part of a holidaying group of adults with learning difficulties, have now been recovered from the remains of a large rural gite in Alsace, north-east France, which was gutted by fire early on Wednesday morning.

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Eleven bodies have been found after a fire ripped through a holiday home hosting people with learning disabilities in eastern France, reports BBC News.

Nearly 80 firefighters were sent to the blaze in La Forge after emergency services were alerted at 06:30 local time on Wednesday.

The fire has now been extinguished, but its cause is not yet clear.

Seventeen people were evacuated from the building, with at least one person taken to hospital.

French President Emmanuel Macron said his thoughts were with the victims and their families and thanked the emergency services for responding to the "tragedy".

Initially, emergency services confirmed nine people had died while a search for the bodies of the two remaining missing people went on.

By the afternoon deputy prosecutor for Colmar Nathalie Kielwasser confirmed the death toll had risen to 11.

"We know that it happened on the second floor," she told Reuters. "The people on the second floor found it difficult to escape and it's there where the bodies were found.

"Another thing that is certain is that sadly for the moment we cannot hear from any witness, so we don't know exactly the reasons why people were trapped by the flames."

The fire broke out near Wintzenheim, close to the German border and about 70km (50 miles) south of the city of Strasbourg.

Read more of this report from BBC News.