The fire in a building near Lyon in east-central France killed ten people, including five children, on Thursday night and injured fourteen, including four in serious condition, the prefecture said.
The fire, whose “origin is unknown,” has “now been extinguished,” the prefecture said in a press release.
He declared himself just after 3am (2am GMT) in a 7-storey building in the town of Vaulx-en-Velin. The flames spread upwards from the ground floor.
The disaster mobilized nearly 170 firefighters and two of them were slightly injured during the operation, according to the prefecture.
An investigation must determine the causes of this fire, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.
“It’s a shock, the results are extremely serious (…) I spoke to the President of the Republic,” Emmanuel Macron said before leaving Paris to go there.
According to an AFP photographer, a major security perimeter has been set up in the city, which is in an urban renewal district, and aid is on the scene in a ballet of ambulances, trucks and flashing lights.
The flames spread upwards from the ground floor. According to a spokesman for the local prefecture, investigations are being carried out to determine the causes of the fire.
eco neighborhood
The fire broke out just after 3 a.m. in a seven-story one-block building, mobilizing nearly 170 firefighters, according to the same source.
According to the prefecture, two firefighters were slightly injured in the operation. A large gendarmerie system was stationed at the site, AFP noted on the ground.
The fire occurred in the Mas du Taureau district, which was undergoing a full urban renewal after long being the symbol of troubled neighborhoods in the Lyon suburbs. The metropolis launched a €100 million program in the early 2000s to rethink what should become an eco-district, develop local businesses and develop public transport.
According to the prefecture, Olivier Klein, the delegate of the Minister for Urban Affairs and Housing, has to come to the local authorities in the morning to take stock of the situation.
The press, kept away from the intervention site and installed in the newly inaugurated media library, is waiting for a press conference.