Police sift ruins of deadly German fire

LUDWIGSHAFEN, Germany (CNN) -- Investigators in southwest Germany are continuing to search the ruins of a building where nine people, including five children, were killed in a weekend fire.

The four-story apartment building in Ludwigshafen was home to several Turkish immigrant families, and was the target of an Molotov cocktail attack two years ago, police told CNN. All nine victims were either Turkish citizens, or Germans of Turkish descent.

Police have yet to determine the origin of Sunday's fire, in which 60 people were also injured. However, they have said neo-Nazi graffiti on the door of a first-floor Turkish cultural center was written long before the blaze.

"At this point, we don't see any connection with it and the fire," police spokesman Volker Klein told The Associated Press.

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned the blaze, asking whether racism was the cause. He added that four police officers from Turkey and a government official would head to Germany to investigate the scene themselves.

Erdogan, who is visiting Germany, is expected to visit the building Thursday and meet survivors at a hospital, AP reported.

Police are working with two girls, aged 8 and 9, to produce a sketch of a man they witnessed a man setting fire to something near to a baby's pushchair in the building. Some believe racism had a role in the fire »

The building went up in flames on Sunday afternoon while revelers were celebrating a carnival. The blaze quickly spread, eating up a wooden staircase that soon gave way.

Panicked parents tossed their children from windows and into the waiting hands of firefighters before they themselves jumped, trying to land in rescue nets. Firefighters battled through the evening and into the night to bring the blaze under control.

In what became a defining moment of the incident, photographs of a nine-month-old infant boy thrown from a fourth-floor window by his uncle was broadcast worldwide. See pictures of baby thrown to safety »

The police officer caught the baby, Onur Celar, and he is now doing well. But the parents are still grieving because their 2-year-old son, Ilyas, was killed in the blaze.

The uncle Kamil Kaplan spoke to CNN on Wednesday about the horrifying decision he faced as flames engulfed the building. "It was terrible. I just had to make a decision," he said. Read the uncle's story

"I took the child from my sister, the mother," he said. "She and the father were screaming: 'Don't do it! Don't do it!' But I didn't listen." He added, "I looked into the eyes of the policeman below, and I knew I could trust him."

Ludwigshafen is a port city on the west bank of the Rhine River. It is noted for its large chemical industry and is a gateway to the wine-growing region of the Rhine.

The carnival tradition stems from the Catholic regions in the west and south of Germany. Like Mardi Gras in New Orleans and Carnival in Brazil, it's a time when residents dress up and take to the streets in celebration. E-mail to a friend

CNN's Diana Magnay contributed to this report

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