Apartment fire in Lyon suburb leaves 10 dead, including 5 children

LYON: Five children, including a three-year-old, were among 10 people killed when a fire broke out in a seven-storey apartment building in a suburb of Lyon, the French government said on Friday (Dec 16).

Fourteen people were injured, including four who required emergency treatment, after the fire erupted in Vaulx-en-Velin in the northern outskirts of Lyon, according to local authorities.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told reporters in Paris before heading to the scene that 10 people were killed, including five children aged between three and 15.

“We do not know the cause of the fire and the investigation will be able to find out,” he said. “It’s shocking and the toll is extremely heavy.”

Mr Darmanin added he had already discussed what had happened with French President Emmanuel Macron.

The fire has been put out, local authorities said, adding that the blaze erupted in the early hours of the morning.

Two firefighters suffered light injuries while battling the blaze, which reportedly broke out on the ground floor of the building.

SCENES OF HORROR

Smoke as well as flames then surged upwards, putting all the residents of the building in danger.

Nearly 170 firefighters had been deployed at the building.

“It was horrific,” said Mohamed, who is the cousin of a resident that managed to escape from the fourth floor and make his way to safety with his two children.

A large security cordon was set up in the area, a district that had been undergoing a process of substantial urban renewal.

The emergency services were busy on the scene with ambulances, trucks and flashing lights, according to an AFP photographer.

In the middle of the night and on one of the coldest nights of the winter, the rescue operation took place in “difficult conditions”, said Mr Darmanin.

The area has often been the scene of social tensions in Lyon and its gritty nature is in total contrast to the glitzy city centre, which is a magnet for international gastro-tourism.

But in the early 2000s, the local authorities launched a program worth €100 million (US$106 million) to revamp it into a so-called “eco-district” to develop local shops and expand public transport.