Five missing after fire in Thusis, one injured jumps from third floor

In Thusis, in the canton of Graubünden, anguish is growing over five people who remain missing after a violent fire broke out overnight between Thursday and Friday in a building on the edge of town.

The provisional toll stands at eight injured, two of them seriously. According to the Graubünden cantonal police, the five missing people have not yet been located and, as the hours pass, hopes of finding them alive are fading. Authorities have not released their identities.

Witness accounts gathered at the scene suggest they are foreign nationals. At least one of the missing people is reportedly Portuguese.

A witness account

A Portuguese man living in Thusis, who knows some of the building's residents and at least one of the missing people, described what happened. "Una persona si è buttata dalla finestra del terzo piano per salvarsi dalle fiamme e si è rotta le gambe" (a person jumped from the third-floor window to escape the flames and broke their legs), he said.

The witness added that he had only seen the roof on fire: "Ho visto soltanto il tetto che bruciava. Conosco diverse persone che vivevano lì. Alcune sono state tratte in salvo, ma una è ancora dispersa" (I only saw the roof burning. I know several people who lived there. Some were rescued, but one is still missing).

The building destroyed by the fire housed a restaurant on the ground floor and small studio apartments on the upper floors, occupied mostly by people living alone, of various nationalities. The flames reportedly broke out shortly after midnight on the second floor, for causes that remain unknown.

Only in the last few hours have firefighters managed to get inside the structure, which had long been inaccessible due to the risk of collapse. The building, largely built of wood, suffered enormous damage.

Rescuers are now inspecting the apartments one by one and gradually removing the roof, to allow investigators to search for useful traces and clarify the fate of those still missing.