TITISEE-NEUSTADT, Germany, Nov 27 AFP - Experts are sifting through a fire-ravaged Christmas decorations workshop for the disabled, hunting for the cause of a fierce blaze that killed 14 people in Germany's Black Forest.
Most of the dead from the fire, which began on Monday at the centre in the southwestern town of Titisee-Neustadt, were disabled, police said.
A 50-year-old female carer was also killed, they said, while another nine people were hurt although their injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.
"Fire experts from the criminal police and accident investigators were on site during the night gathering evidence," a police spokesman told AFP.
Hundreds of firefighters backed by helicopters had battled the fire at the workshop run by the Roman Catholic Caritas welfare association for the mentally and physically disabled.
Candles had been placed on Tuesday outside the damaged building whose windows were broken, and police were guarding the entry while more officers combed through the blackened interior.
Up to 60 people were in the centre at the time of the fire, which broke out just before 2 pm (0000 AEST) and spread quickly, damaging one floor of the site in Titisee-Neustadt, about 35 kilometres from the southwestern city of Freiburg.
Among the dead were 13 disabled people, of whom 10 were women. They were all aged between 28 and 68, according to a police statement.
The cause of the fire was still unclear. "The investigations are not yet finished" but are continuing "relentlessly", police said.
On Monday police had said an explosion had taken place.
It was not clear whether chemicals were stored in the building but the workshop's activities included the treatment of wood.
A press conference has been scheduled for later on Tuesday.
Gotthard Benitz, of the Titisee-Neustadt fire service, told AFP that the fire began on the ground floor of the building which also had a basement and an upper floor.
"The victims were all on the same floor where the fire was," he said adding this was the only area to have sustained fire damage and the stairwell had remained smoke-free meaning those on the other two floors had been able to use it.
"We have no evidence that there were any shortcomings in the existing fire safety system," he added.
He also said firefighters were prepared for dealing with an emergency at the workshop as practice fire alarms were regularly carried out there, with the last one having been last year.
Two firefighters were hurt in the incident and had received hospital treatment overnight but were now home, he said.
On Monday another local fire chief Alexander Widmaier had said firefighters were on the scene within six minutes and that there had been a "massive" amount of smoke that filled the building "extremely quickly".
The head of Caritas in Germany, Peter Neher, told ZDF public television that emergency practice drills were done regularly.
"But everyone knows who has taken part in such a drill, that the practice is one thing and when it's really an emergency situation, everyone reacts very individually," he said.
Local resident Dietlinde Kerler said they had thought a practice drill was underway initially as they watched from their balcony.
"Those in wheelchairs came out of the back and they even carried one... Only then did we notice that it was smouldering, that it was burning, the real thing," Kerler said.
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