Fire swept through a central Paris hotel used by immigrants and tourists today, killing at least 20 people including 10 children, police said.
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A woman rests after escaping the fire in the Paris-Opera hotel this morning |
Some victims tried to save themselves by jumping from windows and others tried to save their children by throwing them from upper floors after the fire broke out in the middle of the night, witnesses said.
About 50 people were also injured, including US, Portuguese, Senegalese, Ivorian, Tunisian and Ukrainian nationals, and the death toll could rise because 11 others were seriously hurt, a fire brigade spokesman said.
"It was one of the deadliest fires in Paris for years," a spokesman for the French Red Cross said.
There was no blast and no immediate suspicion of arson as the cause of the fire , which gutted the six-storey Paris-Opera hotel near the Galeries Lafayette luxury department store.
"You're asleep, you hear a noise, and you think it's a football team or a bunch of students out partying," one man, wrapped in a safety blanket, told reporters.
"But then you look up, and there's a body falling, crashing to the ground. That's when you realise what's happening."
The blaze broke out after two a.m. in the plain, one-star hotel which offers only basic amenities.
The city of Paris authorities said 65 people had been provided with temporary accommodation in the hotel under a state housing aid plan.
Police had conducted a safety check three weeks ago, it said in a statement.