A FIRE HAS SWEPT through an orphanage for the disabled in Haapsalu, a seaside town in western Estonia, killing ten.

Bloomberg reports that eight children under 16, and two aged 20 or 21, died when the building caught fire during the children’s nap time yesterday afternoon. The youngest victim is reported to have been just seven years old.

There were 37 children and nine adults in the building at the time the fire broke out in the orphanage’s sick room, local newspaper EestiPaevaleht reports. Ten children and one adult are being treated in hospital for their injuries.

The orphanage last underwent a fire safety check on 19 January.

The Estonian government has declared a national day of mourning. President Tomas Hendrik Ilves said:

We all share the mourning of the families and relatives of the victims and extend our condolences. Words are a feeble way to give solace, but let us offer support to those whom this dreadful accident has affected.

EestiPaevaleht said hard questions would have to be answered. “Estonia’s social service agencies have a poor fire safety,” its headline today reads.