Residents of a little Polish town, stunned by a blaze that swept through a homeless shelter killing at least 21 people including six children, gathered to pray outside the gutted building and brought gifts for the survivors.

"I knew somebody here, a woman. Her daughter went to the same kindergarten as mine. I don't know if she's alive. There were lots of women with children living in this shelter," said Anna.

She came with her husband Sebastian late on Monday to pay her respects in front of the wreckage of the two-storey building that burned down early on Easter Monday. She preferred not to give her surname.

"I don't know what I'll do now," she said, her eyes filled with tears. "I live next door and I go past here three or four times a day. It's terrible."

Lit up by powerful television arc lights, the ruins of the shelter looked like something out of a war movie. A mass of metal half-melted by the heat lay on top of a still virtually-intact concrete ground floor, all dripping with water.

In front of the building lay barely recognisable remains of furniture, personal effects, broken windows and bits of metal. A security fence had been set up by police and firemen.

At the gate, Anna and Sebastian were joined by other residents of Kamien Pomorski, who lit candles, knelt down and some of them prayed. A banner drawn in big red letters and attached to the gate said: "We share your grief."

It was the deadliest fire in Poland since a 1980 blaze at a home for the mentally ill in north-central Gorna Grupa that killed 55 people.

"The worst thing is the silence. Especially for those who have lost their loved ones," said Daniel Kowalinski, a spokesperson for the local fire brigade.

He said the death toll was 21 dead, including six children, and 21 injured.

But the toll could rise, even though the firemen have combed through the debris. On Monday night the police announced they had no news of 11 residents of the shelter.

Some of the survivors joined their families. Others were taken by police and the local authorities to be put up in a hotel where a psychological help centre was set up. They were all being kept away from the press.

In the same hotel, a collection of gifts was organised. After an appeal by the mayor, dozens of people came in with food, clothing and domestic appliances.

Bronislaw Karpinski, mayor of the town of 10 000 inhabitants, told AFP: "We have received lots of donations. We will also do all we can to give financial help to the survivors, especially since Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Lech Kaczynski have promised to back us."

Kaczynski proclaimed three days of national mourning starting on Tuesday as he and Tusk visited the stricken town.

"For the moment we've brought shoes and clothes," said Ewa Brzoskenewicz, aged about 50, who with her daughter made a journey of 40 kilometres to Kamien.

"Tomorrow we'll bring food and more clothing," she went on. "Those people have lost everything, they've nothing left. We must help them."

AFP

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