French rescuers find fourth body in wreckage of holiday care home
Police said eight people with mental disabilities, four carers and the two owners of the property were in the converted farmhouse when the fire broke out on Monday.
Three residents and one of the owners were among the dead. A fifth person is still missing.
Mathieu Auriol, deputy prosecutor at the Angoulême public prosecutor's office, said autopsies would be carried out to establish the causes of death.
Officers from the National Gendarmerie Criminal Research Institute will also comb through the building. "They will intervene both on the forensic side and on the fire investigation side," added Auriol.
Nearly 90 firefighters tackled the blaze which left four people injured.
Charlotte Parmentier-Lecocq, France's Minister for Disabilities, who visited the scene of the fire, said: "Obviously I'd like to send my condolences to the families of the victims. I would also like to praise the work of the rescue services. They came swiftly and got people out."
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Manslaughter investigation?
While the precise causes of the fire are being investigated, the public prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into manslaughter or unintentional injury.
"We don't know what caused the fire, whether the smoke detectors worked properly, nor do we know how people became aware of the fire," added Parmentier-Lecocq.
"We'll need to take time to carry out the investigation and not make guesses or speculate.
(With newswires)
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