Five missing after fire destroys apartments in Swiss Alpine town

Five people are missing after a huge fire tore through a residential block housing a restaurant and apartments in a Swiss Alpine town. Eight others were injured in the blaze, which broke out in Thusis, a part of the eastern canton of Graubünden, which attracts visitors throughout the year for its Alpine scenery. The fire broke out just after midnight, where emergency services were alerted at around 00:00 local time on Friday, according to the local police service. The severity of the blaze saw almost 100 firefighters from various local networks rush to the scene. Fourteen people managed to escape the burning building, the Graubünden Cantonal police said. Two of those who escaped suffered serious injuries, while two others were moderately injured and a further four sustained minor injuries. The injured were taken to hospitals in Chur, Thusis, Ilanz and Zurich. Firefighters faced difficult conditions inside the building after the stairwell collapsed, with police stating that the building had been 'completely destroyed' by the blaze. The collapse of the stairwell made access to parts of the property more difficult as emergency crews worked to bring the fire under control. Because of this, the roof of the block had to be opened using a crane to tackle the flames from above. Specialist teams are working through the heavily damaged structure as the search continues for the missing. Authorities have not said whether they believe those missing were inside the building when the fire broke out. While initial findings indicate the blaze began on the second floor, investigators have not yet established what caused it. Police and prosecutors have launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the fire. In a separate incident late on Thursday morning a fire broke out in the kitchen of an apartment in a building in the northern city of Schaffhausen. 'Eleven people were injured, nine of whom have been taken to hospital,' local police said. They added that a police officer was among the injured.