The Associated Press
 AP Photo/Daniel Roland Firefighters at the fire scene. |
BERLIN — An apartment building fire in southwest Germany killed at least nine people, five of them children, and left 20 people hospitalized, police said Monday.
More than 500 firefighters battled the blaze after it broke out Sunday afternoon at a four-story building in the city of Ludwigshafen.
Police spokeswoman Simone Eisenbarth said 52 people were registered as living there, but there had been a party in one of the apartments attended by many guests.
“Unfortunately, we cannot exclude further victims,” Eisenbarth said.
The cause of the fire was not clear, and the victims had not yet been identified, she said.
Police found eight bodies inside the building, and one woman died in hospital, Eisenbarth said.
About 20 people remained hospitalized on Monday, but none was in life-threatening condition.
Although the fire was extinguished on Sunday, officials said they had not yet been able to enter one of the four stories of the building, which was in danger of collapsing.