Three Indian nationals were killed and five others injured in a fire at a residential building in the German city of Bochum early on Tuesday, local media reported on Wednesday. The dead were two women aged 25 and 27 and a 26-year-old man.
Police have arrested a 41-year-old Romanian resident of the building on suspicion of murder. Investigators have ruled out a technical fault and suspect arson, though they are still examining whether the fire was set deliberately or started accidentally.
The names of the three victims and their home states in India were not reported. The nationalities and other details of the five injured people were also not specified in the reports.
German public broadcaster WDR reported the details of the victims, citing Bochum police. German news channel n-tv, citing the German Press Agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur, reported that the arrested man was a Romanian national.
A Bochum police spokesperson told WDR that there were initial grounds to suspect the man of murder. He was questioned by officers from the homicide squad. Police and prosecutors announced his arrest on Wednesday.
The fire broke out in a multi-family residential building in Bochum's Hofstede district. Emergency services were alerted at around 4.15 am local time on Tuesday.
Firefighters found the three victims dead in a second-floor flat. The five injured people suffered smoke inhalation and were taken to hospitals in Bochum.
The operation was particularly difficult because the flames had spread upwards through the stairwell, preventing firefighters from using it to reach residents on the upper floors, WDR reported.
Firefighters rescued two people with a turntable ladder, two with portable ladders and one with a safety cushion, according to the DPA report carried by n-tv.
Investigators are continuing to determine how the suspected arson began, while the 41-year-old building resident remains under suspicion of murder following the deaths of the three Indian nationals.
