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Many of French fire victims are children

High death toll due to overcrowded conditions in the building

PARIS: Fire raced through a crowded Paris apartment building housing African immigrants early on Friday, trapping residents in their sleep and killing 17 persons — as many as 14 of them children — police said.

It was the second deadly blaze in four months at buildings housing immigrants. In April, a fire at a budget Paris hotel killed 24 persons, also mostly from Africa, and many were children.

Many of the victims of the latest fire — some of whom reportedly jumped from windows — were from the West African nation of Mali. Others were from Senegal, Ghana and Tunisia, building residents said.

Bodies unidentifiable

A police official said at least eight, and possibly as many as 14 of the dead were children. A definitive count could not immediately be established because of the condition of the bodies, he said. Police and firefighters had earlier reported six children dead.

``There are lots of bodies that are unidentifiable,'' said the police official, speaking by telephone on condition he not be identified.

The police medical-legal team was working to identify the victims of the blaze, which broke out about midnight in a building in southeast Paris and raged for three hours. The former Health Minister, Bernard Kouchner, co-founder of Doctors Without Borders, said there was a ``collective'' responsibility for disasters such as the two fires. ``You can't respond to immigration by closing the door,'' he said on RTL radio. But he suggested that a more ``heartfelt'' and more ``reasoned'' approach was needed.

Firefighters said 28 persons, including a firefighter, were slightly injured.

One resident said he was awakened by cries from children and adults, then rushed to his second floor window. People ``jumped out the windows. They didn't care about dying,'' said 71-year-old Oumar Cisse, originally from Mali.

``This dreadful catastrophe plunges all of France into mourning,'' said a statement from President Jacques Chirac. He asked that the cause of the blaze be determined as quickly as possible so that ``all the consequences can be drawn''.

``It's an extremely heavy toll,'' said Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy who visited the scene of the blaze in southeast Paris. The children had been ``asphyxiated,'' he said. ``It's an abominable spectacle.''

Mr. Sarkozy blamed the high death toll on overcrowded conditions in the seven-story building, which some residents said was poorly maintained. It had no emergency exit.

The fire broke out shortly after midnight in the stairwell of the building and raged through the upper floors, said Capt. Jacques Dauvergne, spokesman for the firefighters.

Investigation on

About 210 firefighters worked for three hours to extinguish the blaze, he said. Police were investigating the cause, taking samples from the building for laboratory analysis.

Portions of the facade of the large white building were scorched from the smoke but intact.

Flower-filled window boxes that had fallen from balconies were strewn on the pavement below.

About 100 children and 30 adults lived there, according to Mr. Cisse, who served as a go-between with the management association.

He said the building was infested with rats and mice. Electricity bills were ``exorbitant'' for some residents, he added, suggesting that the wiring could be faulty. ``It was totally unfit.''

District Mayor Blisko said the building was ``overcrowded,'' particularly with children. ``They talk about three-room apartments with 12 people,'' he said in an interview. — AP

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