According to the government, 10 people were murdered after a fire broke out in a seven-story apartment building in a suburb of the French city of Lyon, including five children, including a three-year-old.
The fire broke out at Vaulx-en-Velin, which is on the northern suburbs of Lyon in eastern France, injuring 14, including four who needed emergency care, according to the local authorities.
Before leaving for the scene, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told reporters in Paris that 10 individuals had died, including five children between the ages of three and 15.
“The inquiry will be able to find out,” he added, adding that we don’t know what started the fire.
He declared, “It’s awful, and the toll is extraordinarily high,” adding that he had already spoken with President Emmanuel Macron about the incident.
Local authorities said that the fire has been extinguished and that it started in Vaulx-en-Velin shortly after 3 am (0200 GMT).
They claimed that two firefighters had minor injuries while putting out the fire, which started on the building’s ground floor.
Then, the building’s residents were all put in risk as smoke and flames erupted.
At the building, around 170 firefighters had been stationed.
Mohamed, whose last name was withheld, the cousin of a resident who made it to safety from the fourth floor with his two children, described the incident as “horrific.”
There was a sizable security perimeter put up in the area, which had recently undergone a significant urban renewal operation.
According to an AFP photographer, the emergency services were active on the site with ambulances, vehicles, and flashing lights.
The rescue effort was carried out under “challenging conditions” in the middle of the night on one of the coldest nights of the season.
In the Lyon suburbs, which are occasionally seedy and very different from the glamorous city center, which is a magnet for worldwide gastronomic tourists, the area had frequently been the site of social disputes.
But in order to transform it into an allegedly “eco-district” where local businesses might flourish and public transportation could be improved, the local government initiated a 100 million euro scheme in the early 2000s.
