Fire kills 17 African migrants in Paris

Red Cross members listen to relatives of victims as they came to a gymnasium to get information following the blaze where 17 people died and 30 were injured early yesterday when fire ripped through a dilapidated apartment building in Paris occupied by African immigrant families. PHOTO: AFP

They said the blaze broke out in the stairwell of the traditional Parisian apartment building just after midnight when most residents would have been sleeping. It was brought under control two hours later but the cause was not immediately known.

"I heard children cry, families scream. Some children were yelling for their mothers and fathers," Oumar Cisse told reporters after he was evacuated from the building.

About 30 people were injured in the blaze in southern Paris.

A little boy in pyjamas, who seemed to be of African origin, clutched a toy animal as he was led away from the building by emergency officials. A number of men and women, some carrying children in their arms, were also evacuated.

The fire is set to spark a debate on the living conditions of immigrants in France because it occurred only four months after a blaze at a Paris hotel used by immigrants killed 24 people in April, half of them children.

On Friday, smoke could still be seen billowing out of windows of the apartment block hours after the blaze was brought under control.

Police said some 30 adults and 100 children had lived in the building, many of them from African countries such as Mali. Most of the casualties were immigrants.

"Around half of the dead are children," a police spokeswoman said.

Police cordoned off the area, near the river Seine and the Jardin des Plantes botanical garden. More than 200 firefighters and dozens of ambulance workers and police were at the scene.

"This dreadful disaster plunges all of France into mourning," President Jacques Chirac said in a statement. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy visited the blaze site in the early hours.

Opposition politicians said the new fire highlighted a severe housing problem in Paris. The hotel fire in April was one of the deadliest fires in the French capital for years.

Some people tried to save themselves by jumping from windows and others tried to save their children by throwing them from upper floors when the fire broke out in the middle of the night.

Police said later they had detained a young woman and that she had admitted accidentally causing the fire at the hotel, situated near the Galeries Lafayette luxury department store.

Martine Aubry from the opposition Socialists said on Friday the authorities should acquire more space for social housing.

"These insalubrious, indecent housing facilities once again prove that we are facing an unprecedented housing crisis in our country," she told France Info radio.