Lyon, France: Fire in apartment building kills 10, including 5 children
CNN
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At least 10 people, including five children, were killed when a fire broke out Friday morning at an eight-story apartment building in a suburb of the French city of Lyon.
Four people are in critical condition, and another ten, including two firefighters, suffered minor injuries from the fire in the town of Vaulx-en-Velin, the regional authority of Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes said in a statement.
A local resident named Sarem, who lives 100 meters (328 feet) from the building, told CNN affiliate BFMTV that he had heard children shouting from a fourth-floor balcony at around 2:25 a.m. and that a group of residents used a ladder to evacuate 25 people from the second floor.
The flames “weren’t violent,” he said, but there was a lot of smoke and “the people who were crying for help couldn’t breathe.”
Around 170 firefighters and 65 fire engines were sent to the scene and the fire is now out, the regional authority said. The cause is still being investigated.
Emergency services were alerted about 3:12 a.m. local time on Friday morning, the authority said, and arrived at the scene 13 minutes later.
The prefect of the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region, Pascal Mailhos, the mayor of Vaulx-en-Valin, Hélène Geoffrey, and a public prosecutor Nicolas Jacquet are at the scene, the regional authority said.
