At least 30 more injured people were being treated in hospitals on Wednesday morning. According to local media, many of the residents were sick and bedridden.
Among the injured are also firefighters and police officers.
The fire in the city of Tuzla broke out on Tuesday evening, just before 9pm local time, on the seventh floor of the building. Eyewitness Ruza Kajic told public broadcaster BHRT how she was woken up by a “crackling sound”.
"I live on the third floor. I looked out the window and saw burning material coming down," she says.
Bosnia and Herzegovina Prime Minister Nermin Nikšić called the fire "a disaster of enormous proportions" to BHRT.
It is still unclear what caused the inferno in Tuzla, which is located about eighty kilometers northeast of the capital Sarajevo. An investigation has been launched.
