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Ten dead in possible arson attack at Paris apartment block
PARIS, Feb 5, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – At least 10 people died and 30 were injured
in an overnight blaze at an apartment block in Paris that police are treating
as possible arson, officials said Tuesday.
The fire on the upper floors of the building in the rue Erlanger in the
upmarket 16th district of southwest Paris is the most deadly in the capital
since 2005.
Videos from the scene showed flames leaping out of top floor windows and
firemen climbing flimsy ladders to rescue terrified residents, some dressed
only in pyjamas, from the top of the eight-storey block.
Described by one rescue worker as a “scene of incredible violence”, the
blaze left around 30 people — including six firefighters — injured and at
least 10 people have died, the fire service said.
“One person who lives in the building has been arrested. She’s a 40-year-
old woman who has prior psychological problems,” Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz
said from the scene on Tuesday where smoke could still be seen rising from
the area.
An investigation has been opened into the criminal charge of causing death
by arson amid fears that the toll could climb further.
The fire started at about 1:00 am (0000 GMT) and was only brought under
control more than five hours later by around 200 firefighters.
“At first we thought it was a fight, we could hear a woman screaming
really loud,” a local resident who gave his name as Nicolas told AFP.
“She was screaming, screaming and we went outside and the building was
already on fire. The firemen had just arrived but what was amazing was that
they were completely impotent.
“They had the trucks, the big ladders, but they couldn’t do anything,” he
said.
Only once they had fitted extenders to their equipment, which needed to be
carried manually into the courtyard of the building, were they able to begin
rescue operations.
Several times the blaze appeared to have been brought under control before
starting again, another witness told AFP.
“The building was very difficult to access,” the mayor of the 16th
district, Daniele Giazzi, told BFM television as she paid tribute to the
young rescue workers who had toiled through the night.
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Several local residents said that the fire had been started because of a
dispute between neighbours in the block, which was built in the 1970s unlike
many of the older, classic Parisian buildings.
“We’ll let the police give further information, but it’s one of the
possibilities being examined by investigators,” deputy mayor of Paris
Emmanuel Gregoire told RTL radio.
Another local resident, 46-year-old builder Jose Emilien, was standing at
a police cordon anxiously seeking news of his cousin and nephew who lived on
the sixth floor of the building.
“I called both of them,” he told AFP. “They’re not picking up and I don’t
have any news.”
– Sports stadiums –
The wealthy neighbourhood is home to several private schools and lies on
the edge of the vast Bois de Boulogne park.
It is close to the stadium of football club Paris Saint-Germain, the Parc
des Princes, and the Roland Garros complex used for the French Open tennis
tournament.
“France is waking up with emotion after the fire on the rue Erlanger in
Paris,” President Emmanuel Macron tweeted. “Thoughts for the victims. Thank
you to the firefighters whose courage helped save many lives.”
The fire is the most deadly since 2005 when an arson at a building in the
13th district of the city killed 17 people, including 14 children.
The blaze follows a powerful gas explosion last month that killed four
people in the city’s central 9th district.
Fire service spokesman Captain Clement Cognon told AFP that firefighters
were yet to fully search the upper floors of the block.
“We had to carry out many rescues, notably for around a dozen people who
had taken refuge on the roofs. In total about 50 people were evacuated by
firefighters,” he added.
Two adjacent buildings were also evacuated as a precaution and local
officials were on site to help find housing for residents who could not
return to their homes.
Several streets were still cordoned off by police and fire crews on
Tuesday morning.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1704 hrs