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Six killed in blaze in Paris immigrant lodgings
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-08-30 14:34
Six people died and 14 were injured late on Monday when fire ripped through a
rundown building in central Paris housing around a dozen immigrant families, the
fire brigade and city officials said, reported Reuters.
Firefighters struggled for an hour to bring the blaze under control after it
broke out in the stairwell of a building in the historic 3rd arrondissement of
the French capital.
Three of those hurt were in a serious condition, the fire service said. Five
firefighters were among the injured.
The blaze came just three days after 17 people, at least six of them
children, died in a fire that destroyed a crowded apartment block also housing
African immigrants, prompting a debate about fire safety and the government's
housing policies.
Pierre Aidenbaum, mayor of the district where the latest fire broke out, told
France Info radio the building had been occupied by around a dozen families from
Ivory Coast, in West Africa. "These people were living in unacceptable and
dangerous circumstances," he said, adding that the city authorities had launched
steps in July to rehouse the families.
Thousands of immigrants and poor families live in run-down hotels or shabby
buildings in Paris because of pressure on housing. The city authorities say more
than 100,000 were looking for public housing in the capital last year. Some
12,000 homes were allocated last year.
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