A woman detained by French police has reportedly admitted causing last week's fire in a Paris hotel that killed 22 people.
"A young woman admitted she had accidentally caused this fire," a police source in
Paris told journalists today. Paris police chief Pierre Mutz broke the news early today to the Paris city council, the source said.
The woman - the girlfriend of one of the hotel's night watchmen - had been held for questioning since yesterday morning, the source said.
Police said the death toll had risen to 22 over the weekend after Friday's fire at the Paris-Opera hotel. About 50 people were also injured, including US, Portuguese, Senegalese, Ivorian, Tunisian and Ukrainian nationals.
The blaze was one of the deadliest fires in the French capital for years.
Some victims attempted 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.
Paris prosecutors began an inquiry for involuntary manslaughter last week.