Paris fire kills 17, half are children
(AP)
Updated: 2005-08-26 15:25

A blaze raced through a Paris apartment building housing African immigrants early Friday, killing 17 people, up to half of them children, officials said.

The fire also injured about 30 people.

Many of the victims were from the west African nation of Mali. Others were from Senegal, Ghana and Tunisia, according to building residents.

It was the second blaze since April to take a devastating toll on African migrants in Paris.

"We just saw the bodies of seven children who were asphyxiated. It's an abominable spectacle," said Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy who visited the scene of the blaze in southeast Paris.

Officials did not immediately release the exact number of children who were killed.

Firefighters survey scene after a blaze raced through an apartment building housing African immigrants in Paris August 26, 2005. A fire tore through a six-storey Paris apartment block housing African immigrants on Friday, killing 17 people -- about half of them children, and injuring about 30, French officials said. [Reuters]

One resident of the seven-story building in southeastern Paris described being awakened by cries from children and adults, then rushing to his window on the building's second floor.

People "jumped out the windows. They didn't care about dying," said Oumar Cisse.

The fire broke out shortly after midnight in the stairwell of a building, officials said. About 210 firefighters worked for an hour and a half before bringing the blaze under control.

Police said they were trying to determine what caused the fire, on a major boulevard in the city's 13th district.

About 100 children and 30 adults lived in the building, officials said. They were housed by a group affiliated with France's Emmaus association for the French state, said Serge Blisko, the district's mayor. Emmaus works to improve the lives of the impoverished.

Fire trucks are lined-up in front of an apartment building in Paris, Friday Aug. 26, 2005. [AP]

The building was "in a mediocre state," he told France-Info radio.

Cisse, a 71-year-old from Mali, said the building was infested by rats and mice and that there were cracks in the walls and lead in the paint.

"It was totally unhealthy," he said.

Resident Sory Cassama, who lives in the building with his wife and 12 children, said he was asleep when a daughter knocked on the door. Their living room had filled with smoke.

"There was so much smoke in the stairwell, but we were still able to get out," said Cassama, who said his wife was treated for smoke inhalation.

In April, 24 people were killed in a hotel fire in Paris capital — many of them children. Most were African immigrants and other people without means who were lodged there by authorities.

At the time, officials said a night watchman's girlfriend may have accidentally caused that fire by placing candles on the floor to set the scene for a romantic tryst but then leaving in a rage because he was drunk.

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