Ludwigshafen, Germany  - German prosecutors closed the file Wednesday on a building fire that killed nine Turkish Alawite people in Germany, saying they were convinced it had been an accident.

Many Turkish people have expressed a feeling that the February 3 fire may have been a cleverly disguised racist attack.

But prosecutors said they had "almost certainly" ruled out arson. The fire had begun under the staircase of the multistoreyed apartment block in the factory town of Ludwigshafen, south of Frankfurt.

No technical defect was found in the building, so the fire must have been caused by some sort of "negligent behaviour."