When firefighters arrived, the second floor was already ablaze, with smoke and fire pouring out of the windows. While one team started extinguishing the fire from the outside with a turntable ladder, a second one with a breathing apparatus penetrated the apartment from the inside. There they found a lifeless woman who was immediately carried outside. Despite the immediate resuscitation measures, any help came too late, the woman died at the scene.

The staircase was ventilated with high-performance fans, and the other residential units were also checked for smoke gases and ventilated. The State Criminal Police Office in Vienna is currently investigating the scene of the fire and trying to determine the cause of the accident.

The Dittes-Hof became notorious four years ago because little Hadishat was murdered here and hidden in a garbage can. The perpetrator, then 16, was sentenced to 12 years in prison followed by preventive detention.