http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20494988
At least 14 people have died and "a large number" injured in a major fire at a workshop for disabled people in south-western Germany, reports say.

Firefighters fought to rescue people and extinguish the blaze at the centre run by the Caritas charity in Titisee-Neustadt, in the Black Forest.

The workshop is believed to have employed about 120 disabled people.

The cause of the fire is not yet known, but local media reports that there may have been an explosion in a store room.

The centre is used for woodwork and metalwork, for which highly-flammable materials and liquids are often used.
'Devastating'

The blaze occurred at about 14:00 local time (13:00 GMT) in the two-storey modern building, located some 40km (25 miles) east of the city of Freiburg.

The entire building was in flames, local TV reported, and smoke was still billowing out more than an hour after the fire started.

About 50 people are reckoned to have been in the building at the time.

Firefighters wore breathing apparatus as they tried to reach those who were trapped inside.

"We can tell you that we have 14 dead. The process of identification is ongoing," local police spokesman Karl-Heinz Schmid told rolling news channel N24.

"We also have a large number of injured who have been taken to hospital."

The centre is run by the Catholic Church's aid organisation Caritas, and the town's mayor Armin Hinterseh said the buildings were quite new.

"It is devastating. We now have to find out how it happened," Mr Hinterseh told the local daily Badische Zeitung.
Thoughts and prayers for the families of the dead and injured.