Ten people were killed and around 20 injured in a fire that broke out in a nursing home in northeastern Bosnia, police said.
"According to preliminary information, ten residents of the Tuzla retirement home lost their lives in the fire," a police spokeswoman said in a statement.
Around 20 people, including firefighters, police officers, medical workers, employees, and residents of the home, received medical treatment at the Tuzla University clinical centre, she added.
The nursing home said earlier that the fire erupted on its seventh floor around 8.45pm local time (7.45pm Irish time) and claimed the lives of ten residents.
The blaze was under control, it added.
"I had gone to bed when I heard a cracking sound. I don't know if it was the windows in my room breaking," home resident Ruza Kajic told BHRT national broadcaster.
"I live on the (home's) third floor. I looked out the window and saw burning material falling from above. I ran out into the hallway. On the upper floors, there are bed-ridden people," she added.
Footage from the scene released by local media showed the fire on an upper floor of the nursing home building.
A full investigation to determine the cause of the fire will be conducted once conditions allow, police said.
The chairman of Bosnia's tripartite presidency, Zeljko Komsic, offered condolences to the families of the victims and wished a quick recovery to those injured, BHRT reported.
The prime minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nermin Niksic, called the fire a "disaster of enormous proportions".
