Emergency service workers observe the site of a guesthouse for adults with disabilities where a fire broke out during the night in Montmoreau, south-western France, on July 28, 2025. RENAUD JOUBERT/'CHARENTE LIBRE'/MAXPPP
A fire that broke out on Monday, July 28 killed four people at a cottage in southwestern France, where adults with learning disabilities had gone on holiday, a French government official said. Including a couple who owned the house, 14 people aged 20 to 75 were inside the stone house when the blaze broke out before dawn in the village of Montmoreau, according to local officials.
The guests included eight people with learning disabilities as well as four carers. The victims included one of the owners of the isolated farmhouse and three people with disabilities, including a 60-year-old woman, said France's minister for people with disabilities, Charlotte Parmentier-Lecocq. "The woman who owned the property entered voluntarily to rescue the people inside and lost her life in the attempt," Parmentier-Lecocq said.
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Little progress in France on inclusion of people with disabilities
