Seventeen others were led to safety with one person taken to hospital in a "relative emergency" after a fire broke out at 6.30am local time in the Haut-Rhin department town of Wintzenheim, local authorities said.

Officials earlier said 11 people - including 10 adults with disabilities and one staff member - were missing.

Philippe Hauwiller, chief fire commander in Wintzenheim and head of rescue operations, told reporters: "We are looking for the bodies of those who could not leave the building."

A final body is still being sought, French news channel BFMTV has learned from the fire brigade.

Local authorities in Haut-Rhin said fire and rescue services deployed 76 firefighters, four fire engines and four ambulances and the fire was "quickly brought under control despite the violent flames".

Forty police officers were also sent to the scene.

The holiday home in Wintzenheim, which is close to the border with Germany, was rented by a charity that takes care of people with learning disabilities, according to France 3.

Local authorities said those missing were from a group of people from the city of Nancy, a two-hour drive away.

France President Emmanuel Macron called the fire a "tragedy" and said his thoughts are with the victims, the injured and their families as he thanked emergency services.

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The mayor of Nancy, Mathieu Klein, wrote on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that he is "deeply saddened by the terrible fire".

France's Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said she was heading to the site.