An electrician was taken into custody in early January as part of an investigation into a house fire. Three children from the same family perished in the house during the holiday season.
It is a terrible drama which took place on the eve of Christmas. On the night of December 23 to 24, a farmhouse (typical cottage of the loops of the Seine) caught fire in the hamlet of Selles near Pont-Audemer. In the house was a family of 10, who had come from France and Switzerland for the Christmas holidays. In the fire, two children lost their lives. A few days later, another toddler died of his injuries. They were 7, 11 and 13 years old respectively.
The public prosecutor, Eric Coutin, clarified the circumstances of the tragedy during a press conference. “The hearings of the owners of the house establish that the seals blew several times in the days preceding the fire and that the electrician intervened the previous Tuesday, December 20. The leads blew when they plugged in a fryer, a vacuum cleaner…”he specified.
The 55-year-old electrician who visited the house was taken into custody on January 5. “During his auditions, he admits having intervened on several occasions lately in the house”, revealed the magistrate.
What’s next after this ad
The electrical panel, the main cause of the fire
A failure of the electrical panel”was the main cause of the fire”, According to the technicians’ report. The prosecutor also clarified that the smoke detector had not worked. According to the autopsies performed on the children, they “died by inhaling the toxic fumes before being struck by the flames. These same fumes led to the loss of consciousness of the third victim and to his subsequent death. added the prosecutor.