At least six people have died after fire engulfed part of a nursing home in northern Croatia.

The blaze erupted at around 5am local time (4am GMT) at the privately-run facility in the village of Andrasevac, 20 miles north of the capital Zagreb.

An investigation is under way to determine the cause of the fire.

Croatian prime minister Andrej Plenkovic told reporters after arriving on the scene: “Unfortunately, according to initial information we have received, six people died.

Nursing home fire
The blaze erupted in the early hours of Saturday (Nikola Solic/AP)

“At this moment, we don’t have enough information to be able to say anything else.

“We need to wait until the authorities finish their job.”

Croatian media said the fire erupted in a wooden building close to the home’s main site. N1 TV said about 20 people were staying there when the fire broke out.

Videos and photos from the scene showed the building was completely destroyed with only outer brick walls and some roof beams still standing. A much bigger main building could be seen undamaged nearby.

Police said the fire was put out quickly, but they had to wait a while before they could enter the charred building to conduct the probe.