Five missing, 19 injured in Swiss apartment fires

Five people were missing and 19 were injured after two overnight apartment-building fires in Switzerland, police said Friday.

In Thusis, in eastern Switzerland, a fire that broke out just after midnight entirely burned a building that housed a restaurant and residential flats, regional police in Graubünden canton said. Five people remained missing.

Police said 14 people escaped from the Thusis building. Eight were injured, including two in serious condition, and were taken to hospitals in Graubünden and Zurich.

The stairwell collapsed, and crews had to open the roof with a crane, police said. Around 100 firefighters were sent to the scene, where crews were still working Friday morning. Police said the fire started on the second floor, and an investigation into the cause has been opened.

In a separate fire late Thursday in Schaffhausen, near the German border, police said a kitchen fire in an apartment injured 11 people, including a police officer. Nine people were taken to hospital. Firefighters prevented the blaze from spreading to other units in the building.